Of Love, Life, and Lies
by Boogalee99
Summary: Liana is Nya's best friend and has always been there for her. When she is kidnapped, Liana will do anything to save Nya, even put up with Nya's annoying brother Kai, join up with an all-boys ninja team, learn spinjitsu, and maybe fall in love. Starts in episode one season one and will continue on from there. Bad summary, sorry, a lot better than it sounds.
1. Chapter 1

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**A/N: This is my first fanfiction, so please, let me know what you like and dislike in a respectful manner. No flames! Sorry if the characters seem a little OOC, but they are but servants to the plot.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

**Chapter One**

_Long before time had a name, the first spinjitsu masters created Ninjago. Using the five elements, they, brother and sister, kept the peace throughout the land. Eventually, as all things must do, their time passed, and, to make sure that the elements were only commanded by the just and pure of heart, the eldest son of the brother hid them, keeping their location a secret until they could once more be wielded in the fight against the darkness._

Liana's POV 

I sighed, making my way over to the blacksmith's shop. Earlier that month, I had asked him to fix the frame on my wagon, and when I had last checked, he still hadn't bothered to fix it yet.

I sighed again. I couldn't stand dealing with Kai. Even though he was drop-dead gorgeous, with his permanently messed up brown hair and blazing ochre eyes, he was also just plain annoying and arrogant. His sister, Nya, was much more enjoyable, not to mention a better fighter. And to think, Kai thought that the martial arts weren't for girls! I could kick his butt with two hands and a foot tied behind my back.

Kai's POV

I glanced out the window to see Liana walking down the street. Shoot! I still hadn't finished mending that wagon frame yet! She's gonna murder me, even if she is best friends with my sister! Actually, scratch that. She'll just look at me and sigh in disappointment, no doubt thinking of how hard it has been for her to be shoved from home to home, worrying about her brother who went to some boarding school, to finally have a place where she wants to stay, and how I was probably ruining it for her, because her foster father had asked her to get the frame fixed, and she had trusted me to do the job right, and I still hadn't finished it, even though she had given it to me nearly a month ago. I cringed at the thought of that sadness entering her beautiful blue eyes, the way her slender shoulders would droop, how her delicate pink lips would stop humming whatever song was playing in her mind…

Argh! I need to focus! I hustled around the shop, finding the wagon frame and hustling to get the forge fire to the right temperature. I started banging the metal frame back into shape as I struggled to keep my mind from wandering back to Liana, with her gently waving strawberry blonde hair, cute little freckles, and tendency to sing any song that came to mind…

Argh! I refocused on the task at hand.

Because there was no way, not in a million years, that I have a crush on Liana Galen

Nya's POV

I walked into the main forge just as Liana walked in. She gave me a smile, before heading straight over to my brother, who was hastily pounding away at her wagon frame. Man, he was in for an earful!

After giving my brother a lecture I couldn't hear because of the banging (such a shame; I'm sure it would have been epic to behold), she came back over to me.

"Wanna hang out? I could use a break!" she shouts to me.

"Sure!" I yell back, and she follows me to the back room, where we can talk.

Liana's POV

The water for hot chocolate **(a/n: I don't drink tea or coffee, so any instances where they appear, they will be substituted for by hot chocolate)** when we heard raised voices back in the main forge. Kai had stopped his irritating banging.

"And the shop is called For Weapons, not for browsing, so either buy something or get out!" I sighed. How is it possible that he and Nya are related? We head out to see what the problem is, only to find a fuming Kai and no customer in sight. We walked up to Kai.

"What happened?" I asked, partly out of curiosity and partly out of anger that he had yelled at someone who, from what we heard Kai shouting, was probably asking directions or something,

He paused, about to answer, when we heard an enormous vehicle outside. We all rushed to the window and saw skeleton after skeleton pouring out of their monstrous machines.

"Stay here!" Kai told me and Nya, before throwing on some samurai armor and gripping a sword. He sprinted out of the shop.

"How long should we give him?" Nya rolled her eyes.

"How does a minute and a half sound?"

~oOo~

A minute and a half later, Nya and I rushed outside to find Kai surrounded by skeletons. We performed the rare simultaneous eye role before joining him, bashing heads left and right, kicking arms out of their sockets, literally, and knocking them down like bowling pins.

"I thought I told you to stay inside!" Kai yelled.

"Nice of you to admit that you were wrong!" I shot back.

The tide of battle carried us away from each other, until a wave of gold shot through the army, slowing down to show man with a long beard as white as snow. The skeletons looked at him and panicked, calling, "Retreat!"

"Garmadon says take the girl!" one of them called out. Before either of us could react, a mechanical claw shot forward and snatched Nya, taking her to one of the machines before anyone could help her.

"NO!" I screamed, as if it would help her, at the strange vehicles as they drove away. I turned to get a good look at the old man, who was looking amused at the conversation he was having with Kai.

"Couldn't you use your twistitsu, or turnfitsu, or-"

"Spinjitsu." I cut him off. "Ancient martial art using movement and total self-balance that is incredibly hard to master. I you read at all, you would know that." They both looked startled at my interruption. "Anyways, since you showed up just before the skeletons," I guessed, "I'll assume that they followed you hear. I will also assume that you will train Kai and me, since we obviously aren't going to get Nya back by sitting around drinking hot chocolate, will we?" I would've stomped off, but I didn't know where we would be going.

It took a while for grandpa to recover. "Of-of course," he stammered, "that's why I came here in the first place." He recovered a bit more. "If you would follow me, then."

He headed down the street, with me following behind him and Kai bringing up the rear.

**So, what did you think? If there are any guy readers, I would like to know what really goes on in your brains, so I'll be able to right the ninja's POVs better. Thanks! R&R!**

**~Boogalee99**

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	2. Chapter 2

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**A/n: Thanks so much to KatStorm, dixicorn, KaitouKiwi, Actiongirl101, and telekineticspdranger for their super fantastic reviews and support. KaitouKiwi, Lia (Liana's nickname) does have a very interesting past. Read to find out! LloydandNya4Ever, I'm not sure how to interpret your review of "of my Garmadon" but I will take it as a compliment. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Lia and some of the plot!**

Sensei's POV

I watched as Liana effortlessly scaled the cliff, with Kai huffing and puffing behind her as he tried to keep up. She was in startlingly good shape, for someone who worked on a rice farm.

There was something different about that girl. _ Maybe I got them mixed up. Liana certainly has enough of a temper to be the fire ninja… But then again, she tends to use her common sense, unlike Kai._

Soon enough, we got to the top of the cliff and stood in front of the monastery. The place held mixed feelings for me. It was my childhood home, but it was also the place where Garmadon got bitten by the Great Devourer…

Kai's POV

I wasn't going to pretend that I wasn't a little bit upset that Liana had put me to shame when we were climbing that cliff. I used to think that I was in good shape; after all, blacksmithing is a very physically demanding job. But Lia, she had to go all spider monkey on us and scramble to the top. That girl is just full of surprises today.

When we entered the monastery, Sensei led us to a cabinet full of wooden training weapons. He pulled out a sword and handed it to me, then preceded to hand Liana a bow and two wooden daggers.

"Why does she get more than me?" I whined. Lia shot me a glare, which Sensei Wu ignored.

"She obviously has some weapon training. Look at the way she is always relaxed and constantly on the balls of her feet. The warrior who bends like a red survives, while he who stands like a post does not." I turned to get a good look at Liana. I had never really paid attention before, but she was obviously suited for battle. If you looked closely enough, you could see that there were thick calluses on her hands, precisely where she held her dagger or drew back her bowstring. "If I were to hazard a guess," Sensei continued, "I would say that you were trained in daggers, archery, swords, ax, shurikens, and the hammer." She nodded as Sensei named each weapon.

"I was also trained in the use of the scythe and the spear, but daggers and archery were always my favorite." Seriously? She had bothered to keep that hidden from me? I had known her since she went to her first foster home, when she was ten! That was seven years ago!

I tried to shake off my irritation and walked over to the training course Sensei had set up. "Cool! Is this gonna teach me how to do that cool move?" I hopped onto a wooden post and did the crane. I didn't realize that it was spring loaded until it had sunk down and pushed me into the air. I landed in a daze on the far side of the training arena. Sensei smirked at me, while Lia rolled her eyes and snickered at my antics. "Perhaps Lia could demonstrate?" Sensei said innocently.

"Of course," she answered, equally innocent. She went to go stand by the entrance to what I realized was something of an obstacle course. She took a deep breath to center herself, and then she was off.

Liana's POV

I had never felt more alive than the moment when I entered the training course. For a moment I was back at home, with my mother and father teaching me how to defend myself…

_I look down my blade, making sure that it is straight and true. "Remember," Father says, "A weapon is only as good as its wielder." Even then, when I was 6, I knew that there was something off about him. "Wield it correctly, and it will bring you power over everything, and every one, you see."_

"_What if I don't want power over everyone?" I question._

"_Then you will never amount to anything."_

I shook off the flashback and fly through the course, never pausing. Jump over a particular post, duck under this dummy's sword, side step this, dodge that. My mind went into autopilot as I let my instincts take over, and before I knew it, I was through the course, and Sensei and Kai were staring at me in awe. To be honest, they were truly starting to annoy me. Do you ever reach a point where things stop surprising you, or do you just keep getting more surprised until you pop?

After recovering from their shock, Sensei Wu had Kai try to course. I just about died trying to hold in my laughter when he got taken out by the first obstacle. Sensei turned to Kai. "Today you failed." Turning to me, he said, "You have passed. Kindly help Kai figure out how to do the course." With that, he turned and entered to monastery.

Kai turned to me with a look in his eyes that made even me, the great Liana Galen, cringe.

Kai's POV

"You just need to relax and follow your instincts. Right now, you are fighting with a lot of fire, which can be a good thing, but you are completely stiff. You aren't bending like the ree-"

"I know, I know, I'm stiff like the pillar." I had just finished my tenth try to get through the training course, and I think that my pride had taken more of a battering than my body, which is saying something, because my royal jewels were currently screaming in pain from a board that had been right at groin height. I managed to stand upright and once again noticed Lia's beautiful hair, the way she had muscles in all the right places, the way when she smirked she got this cute little crinkle right between her eyes…

GEEZ! Why did my sister have to be best friends with a total hottie?

Did I really just think that?

Liana's POV

It took several days, but Kai was finally able to complete the training course, due to the fact that he was able to through the sword to knock the hot chocolate out of Sensei's hand to earn himself more time. When Kai was done, he simply turned to both of us and said, "You have passed. Your final examination is tomorrow. I suggest that you get some sleep."

Kai and I went inside and turned to our separate rooms. Hopefully we would be able to sleep tonight…

Zane's POV

Sensei summoned Jay, Cole and I to his room that night. We had just returned from a practice run at Jermonikai Village, which had kept us bus for a week or so. "The monastery has two visitors. One boy, one girl," he said, ignoring our puzzled looks. "They pose a possible threat. I want you to neutralize them without permanently hurting them." What threat could these strangers pose to us that is so great that he would want us to neutralize them?

Of course, Jay's first thought was to ask if the girl was hot. A ghost of a smile appeared on Sensei's lips. "You shall have to see for yourself."

~oOo~

After meeting with Sensei, we tried to decide what our next course of action would be.

"We should neutralize the boy first, since he is more of a threat. Once the boy id finished, we get the girl," Cole said. Once we all agreed, we set off towards the boy's room, which Sensei had told us the location of.

Liana's POV

No matter how hard I tried, I could not sleep that night. Apparently the sheep just didn't want to be counted, because soon enough, I found myself outside of Kai's door, wondering if he too would like some company tonight. I eased the door open and spotted Kai in front of the sink, brushing his teeth. While I was deciding whether or not to go in, I saw three figure clad in black enter the room and watch Kai. My eyes narrowed when I saw that they were surrounding him. My muscles were itching to barge in there and kick their butts right now, but my instincts told me that there would be a better time to attack, and to wait and see how Kai handled the first wave of attack.

Kai did well, to say the least. I almost gave myself away because I could barely hold in my laugh when Kai threw his electric toothbrush down the shirt of the guy with nun chucks, causing him to buzz and fall into the other two as Kai made to get away in the rafters. I waited until the attackers had followed him before following them myself.

Jay's POV

I had no idea what happened. One minute I was pursuing the strange boy with the rest of the gang, the next, my mouth was gagged with what seemed like a bed sheet and I was pulled down out of the rafters. Fighting against the strong arms, I managed to turn enough to see a stunning girl with strawberry blonde hair, eyes like the clear sky, and a cute splattering of freckles across her nose before she blindfolded me and tied me to the toilet.

Cole's POV

Something strange was going on. One minute, Jay was running right along with us, the next, he had disappeared without a trace. We had followed the strange boy up to the roof, when suddenly, I was gagged with a bed sheet. I only had time to register a pair of beautiful blue eyes before I was blindfolded and tied to a post.

Zane's POV

I could sense strange happenings going on. My two brothers had disappeared without a trace and still had not returned as I was pursuing the boy. Finally, he turned around in the training grounds and faced me, meeting my shurikens with a wooden training sword. He had remarkable skill, and we were pretty evenly matched until someone blindfolded me from behind and stuffed a gag in my mouth. Behind me, I heard a strangely musical laugh.

Liana's POV

I couldn't help but laugh at how easily I had taken down the three attackers. It had been too simple to gag the one in the rear and make them disappear. I probably would have busted my gut laughing if Sensei hadn't shown up and shouted "Enough! Liana, would you kindly go and fetch the other two? And untie them. Tell them that Sensei wants to speak with them in the training ground."

Once we were all assembled, Sensei said, "Cole, Jay, Zane, I want you to meet your newest team members, Kai and Liana." Immediately they started to protest.

"But Sensei-"

"You didn't say anything about a fourth and fifth! There are always three! Three primary colors, three musketeers, three –"

"What my brother is trying to say, Sensei," one of them interrupted, "is that the three of us work well together, like a well oiled machine."

"Some well oiled machine," I muttered.

"Enough! If I say that they are part of the team then they are part of the team! Is that clear?" Sensei demanded.

"Yes, Sensei," they answered in unison.

"Now, if that's settled... NINJA-GO!" he yelled and disappeared into a golden tornado. As he whisked by me, I felt my clothes flutter. I looked down to see that my fleece pajamas were gone, replaced with teal tights, a teal dress/ tunic, and a darker teal belt holding it all in place **(a/n: picture Mulan mixed with the ninja when you read this description)**. To top it all off, my head was covered by a teal hood. I looked down the line to see that Kai was now in a read ninja suit, and that one of the attackers was now white, one was blue, and one was still black. Gasps of astonishment leapt from their mouths.

"No way!"

"Cool!"

"Why am I still black?"

Sensei had us remove our hoods, and I found myself surrounded by four hotter-than-heck boys. He started down at the other end of the line, with the one in black, with ebony hair and a strong jaw line.

"This is Cole, ninja of earth, strong and steady."

"Nice to meet ya, kid," he told Kai. "For the record, there ain't nothing in the world that I'm afraid of!"

"What about dragons?" questioned the white.

"Dragons aren't of this world, Zane. I said _in_ the world."

Sensei moved onto the blue one, with reddish brown hair and eyes like the sea on a stormy day.

"Jay, master of lightning, quick and surprising."

"Oh, that's not all I do. I like cooking, a dash of model making, a sprinkling of inventing, a touch of poetry-"

"And here we have Zane," Sensei interrupted, pointing to the one in white with platinum blonde hair and delicate, almost elfin features. "Ninja of ice, and seer with 6th sense."

"I sense this one takes things a little too seriously," Kai muttered.

"You too have the sense?" Zane asked, perplexed.

"No, he was making a joke, Zane. Remember what we worked on? Your sense of humor?" Jay hissed.

"Oh yes, it was a joke, haha." Zane said monotonously.

Looking slightly uncomfortable, Sensei moved on to Kai.

"Kai, ninja of fire, fast and dangerous." Kai tried to look impressive. I snickered and couldn't help but add "Tremendous egomaniac, blazing hothead, and total dork." He shot me a glare while the others cracked up. Sensei allowed a small smile before moving on to me.

"Liana, master of wind, quick and flexible." Even when Sensei was done with his introduction, they all continued to stare at me.

"Um, call me Lia," I kind of muttered. They all continued to stare at me, until one of them broke the silence.

"Um, you're pretty, Lia," Cole kind of muttered. I grinned. Oh, yes, we were going to be the best of friends!

**So, what did you think? R&R! Also, in order to make sure that Lia doesn't turn into a Mary Sue, I need to know which ninja you think that she should end up with. I'm partial to Zane, but let me know! Also, I still need someone to help me understand the mind of a guy! Help! I have no idea what I am doing when I write from one of the ninja's perspective! ;)**

**~Boogalee99**


	3. Chapter 3

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**A/n: Thanks to my reviewers, KaitouKiwi and LloydandNya4Ever. You guys are awesome! Thanks for reviewing 2 chapters in a row! KaitouKiwi, you're right, that doesn't necessarily make her a Mary Sue, but I just figured out what faults to give her, so hopefully it will be enough. I'd also like to put out there that if I don't get at least 3 reviews this chapter, I'm not sure that I'll be able to continue the story. Part of makes me a good author (not me being conceited, my friends think I'm great, I think I'm marginal at best, I went with the middle) are other people's opinions. KaitouKiwi has been a great help by always offering her (I read your profile and assume you're a girl; sorry if that seems stalker-ish. Btw, your stories seem interesting. I'm gonna read them soon), but I still need some insight into the mind of the male species! Please help!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot**

Chapter Three

Liana's POV

We all stood before Sensei Wu, waiting for him to get beyond the standard introductory phase. He had to have gathered us all for a reason, right?

Just when I was starting to get uncomfortable and impatient (did I mention that I'm ADHD?), Sensei seemed to gather his thoughts. "You are the five elemental ninjas and keepers of the golden elemental weapons. It is essential that you keep them out of Lord Garmadon's hands."

_Lord Garmadon… Lord Garmadon… _Those words seemed to echo in my head, and before I could do anything to stop them, a cascade of memories came crashing into my mind.

_I was once again 6 years old. I stood in front of the training course, staring at the rapidly spinning posts, the stiff, rebounding dummies, and the jagged, bouncing poles. I heard my father's voice in the background. "Complete the course, and someday you will be as great as Lord Garmadon."_

_I am now 8 years old. I look at the bullies kneeling in pain in front of me. They had taunted me about my father for the last time, and I had finally snapped. In the back of my mind, I heard a voice asking, "What would Garmadon do?" Deep in my heart, I realized I had done exactly that._

_I am now 10. I have had the last straw. I take my little brother and run away from home._

_Away from Lord Garmadon._

Cole's POV

When Lia fainted, none of us quite knew what to do. We watched as she seemed to fall in slow motion. Just before she hit the ground, I was somehow able to move fast enough to prevent her from hitting her head. I laid her gently on the ground, resting her head in my lap. The rest of the ninja gathered around us. We all watched as she twitched and jerked in her uneasy coma. Worry filled my mind, unexpectedly strong. A severe sense of helplessness filled me as I watched my teal ninja, battling foes that only she could see.

Wait, did I just call her _my _ninja?

Too worried to deal with that now, I turned to Sensei. "Is there something we can do?" I asked desperately. How is it possible that I feel so strongly for a girl I have barely met?

Sensei didn't acknowledge my question. He stood, frozen, staring at her gi, which, due to her spasms, had been pulled out of place enough to reveal a scar on her sternum. "Is it really her?" he said in wonder. "My little Lialily?"

I was now more confused than ever. Lialily? I would have wondered more, but just as I decided to ask Sensei what he meant, said Lialily decided to wake up. She looked at little disoriented at first, which is perfectly understandable, I mean, she wakes up in an almost-stranger's lap in an almost-unknown place, surrounded by more almost-strangers, all crowding around to see if she was okay. Soon, however, recognition entered her eyes and she tried to sit up, before almost immediately, and certainly unwillingly, falling back into my lap. "What happened?"

"Um, you kind of fainted randomly. It kind of looked like you were fighting something or someone. Was it a kind of dream or nightmare?" I asked nervously. I was afraid that if I said anything, it would cause her to faint again.

"No," she said grimly. "It was a memory."

Sensei's POV

I finally plucked up the courage to walk up to Liana. Almost uncertainly, I said, "That memory rush was triggered by Garmadon's name, wasn't it?" She nodded. "Could you tell me why that is?"

"He destroyed my family," she said simply. "Yours too, for that matter." So she knew that I had guessed who she really was.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, niece."

"I know, Uncle."

I could see the gears turning in the boys' heads as they tried to figure out what was going on. Zane was the first to piece it all together. "Wait, since Sensei is you uncle, that means that your father…"he dropped off.

"My father is Lord Garmadon."

**DUNDUNDUH! So, what did you think? It's my shortest chapter yet, under 1000 words, but it needed to happen that way. To be honest, I kind of surprised myself with how attracted Cole was to Liana. I'm beginning to learn that I am a servant to the story, and that my characters have a mind of their own. And let me tell ya, some of them have some very strong minds! Remember, R&R!**

**~Boogalee99**


	4. Chapter 4

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Liana's Note: So, you remember at the end of the last chapter, when Boogalee told you that her characters were growing minds of their own? She wasn't wrong. I decided that her author's notes were just too dull, so I took over. Anyways, to the thank yous…**

**You didn't really believe that she would seriously stop writing this did you? I am just too awesome.**

**Me: *wrestles computer from her* There's a reason it's called an author's note Lia. Anyways, thanks to all of the reviewers. LloydandNya4Ever, anytime I read one of your reviews, I start to crack up. To KatStorm and KaitouKiwi, the reviewers who say such similar thinks I think I'm going to refer to them now as the K-twins, thank you for sharing your opinions and encouragement. Now, on to the story…**

**Lia: See what I mean? Dull. By the way, she does not own Ninjago and she only **_**claims**_** ownership of me. Oh, and she doesn't own Secrets by OneRepublic either.**

Liana's POV

"My father is Lord Garmadon."

As soon as those words left my mouth, all of the ninja backed away from me. All that is, except for one.

My ninja still held me.

I snuggled deeper into his warm body as consciousness fled yet again.

Cole's POV

I was disgusted.

Not at Lia.

Not at her apparent disregard for consciousness.

I was disgusted with my team.

Just because her father is evil, they assume that Liana is evil too, despite the fact that she is a caring, truthful person. I mean, she doesn't even really know us, yet she had the guts to tell us what was, without a doubt, her deepest, darkest secret. That showed serious courage, and I was not going to punish her for standing her ground.

I looked down as she snuggled deeper into my lap. She really was beautiful. Her features were delicate, almost elfin in shape, and her pale pink lips were mouthing words to a song only she could hear. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, falling in gentle waves to the middle of her back, despite the fact that it was pulled up so high. A splattering of freckles gave her an innocent look, and my heart ached to think of all of the horrors that she has had to go through before she even turned 18.

I sat there, transfixed, for forever and no time at the same time, stroking her forehead, wishing that she would wake up again. When she didn't, I gathered her in my arms with a sigh and stood up, carrying her bridal style into the monastery. "Where are you taking her?" Kai called out.

"Bed," I replied curtly. I didn't look back. I could only look at the lithe figure in my arms. She fit perfectly, the way the last piece of a puzzle does after you've been working on it for days. When I held her, I felt complete. I hadn't felt complete since Jade…

A glance at Lia's tiny nose chased away any unwanted memories. She was probably exhausted. She just had to sleep. I wonder what she will say when she wakes up.

I was going to be there when she woke up. I was always going to be there for her.

Liana's POV

_I looked up and saw Garmadon before me. His gleaming scarlet eyes shone with a malice beyond what should have been humanly possible._

_Then again, he wasn't human. Not anymore._

_I tried to stand. I collapsed. I was completely drained._

_I glanced up again, and caught a flash of human emotion on his face. Pity? Hope? Love? No._

_It was Regret._

_He was sorry for what he had put me through._

_Then, so fast that I might have imagined it, it disappeared. "Foolish girl," he hissed. "I warned you not to join the ninja. You have brought ruin upon yourself. You have brought it upon your brother, on Nya, on Kai, Zane, and Jay. You will be the cause of the destruction of Cole." That last sentence, more than any other one, caused my blood to run cold. All because of an old wagon frame, I had doomed Cole._

_Suddenly, a smooth, baritone bass cut through the nightmare._

I need another story  
Something to get off my chest  
My life gets kinda boring  
Need something that I can confess

'Til all my sleeves are stained red  
From all the truth that I've said  
Come by it honestly I swear  
Thought you saw me wink, no  
I've been on the brink, so

Tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away.

_I knew that song. It was one that I had always dreamed would come true in my life. It began to fill by heart with hope. Garmadon paused, confused._

"_What is that infernal singing?"_

This time don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away

My God, amazing how we got this far  
It's like we're chasing all those stars  
Who's driving shiny big black cars  
And everyday I see the news  
All the problems that we could solve  
And when a situation rises  
Just write it into an album  
Send it straight to gold  
But I don't really like my flow, no, so

Tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away.

_The music gave me enough energy to rise. I looked Garmadon in the eye, and for the first time he looked nervous. Scared, even._

This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away

Oh, got no reason, got no shame  
Got no family I can blame  
Just don't let me disappear  
I'ma tell you everything

So tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away.

_The song continued. I gathered to energy to speak. "I will save them all. Lloyd, Nya, Kai, Zane, Jay, all of them."_

"_I will save Cole."_

This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away

Oh, got no reason, got no shame  
Got no family I can blame  
Just don't let me disappear  
I'ma tell you everything

So tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away.

_The song was finished. So was Garmadon._

"_Leave."_

Cole's POV

I stood there watching Lia for any signs of life. She had been unconscious for 18 hours, and I had not left her side for a single one. I sang "Secrets" softly to myself, thinking that there was never a more appropriate song. After the song finished, Lia began to stir. She sat up, looked at me, smiled softly, and said, "Cole," and then she tackled me in a hug.

Kai's POV

Zane, Jay, and I stood in the doorway, watching Cole as he carefully helped Lia to her feet. "It is strange," Zane commented, "For Cole to be so protective over someone he just met. If I were to hazard a guess, it is almost as if he is in love."

"That's impossible!" I hissed back. "He barely knows her!" A strange beast was stirring in my chest, fueling my anger. It made me uneasy.

"I'm with Zane," Jay said. "Look at the way the move. They look as if they have known each other for years! And look at the matching expressions on their faces. Looks like love to me."

"It can't be!" Why was I protesting this so much? It made no sense to me. Unless…

The way I was always aware of her when she was in the room…

The way I noticed the little details about her…

How I couldn't help but smile when she was around…

In retrospect, it was pretty clear.

I was in love with Liana Garmadon.

Jay's POV

There was something that was kind of off about Liana. I couldn't place my finger on it, but it was there.

Cole and Lia walked to us, with Cole supporting most of Lia's weight. She looked pretty weak.

I decided to ignore that. She was a ninja, after all.

I looked her directly in the eye. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

**So what do you think? I hadn't really planned on this chapter, it just came out.**

**Lia: Well duh it came out. It was a significant part of my life, after all.**

**Me: You do know that you are a work of fiction, right? Created for my entertainment.**

**Lia: That's what you think.**

**Me: Anyways, hope you liked it. Also if there are any boy readers, could you at least tell me if the ninja's POV is somewhat accurate?**

**~Boogalee99**


	5. Chapter 5

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**A/n: Ok, so sorry for not updating last night. I had my first school basketball game, and it went late. In case you are wondering, we won 39-2. So, moving on… All of you guys have been really supportive. Special thanks to the K-twins, for speaking their mind, and especially to Ridin' Shotgun, for giving me a much needed glimpse into the mind of a guy when he tries to talk to the girl he likes. Very helpful. Thanks to everyone else who also reviewed. When I read them, they make my day, and LloydandNya4Ever always manages to make me laugh.**

**Lia: Come on, you're too polite! Review or else, people!**

**Me: By the way Lia, KatStorm says hi.**

**Lia: Well, hello KatStorm! Thank you for saying hello the awesomeness known as the teal ninja! *flexes muscles***

**Me: *coughs uncomfortably* Well, moving on… I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 5

Sensei's POV

I watched as two of the five ninja stood discussing my niece.

"I tell ya," Jay was saying, "There is something off about her. I mean, Sensei didn't even know who she was until he saw that scare! Why didn't she tell him?"

"Perhaps she was frightened of what we would think of her," Zane said logically **(a/n: is there any other way that Zane says something?)**. "She has my personal respect for coming clean after barely knowing us for five minutes. That takes more courage than you would expect. And, from my personal experience, people with courage of that magnitude generally do not have evil intentions."

"Explain how she was able to take down each of us, then, if she didn't use the dark otherworldly power of her father!" Jay was getting really riled now. That was strange. No matter how hard I had pushed him, Jay hadn't snapped at me once while I was training him. He was generally laid back and very easy going. Something dark must be at work here, to make him think that a beautiful girl was an enemy…

Liana's POV

Cole and I chatted amiably as he helped me to work out my sore muscles by walking around the monastery. Ok, maybe Cole did most of the walking and I kinda just tapped my feet on the ground, as he was supporting most of my weight. He was remarkably strong.

"So anyways, Sensei says that we will go after the golden weapons as soon as you are ready," he was saying,

"Cole, can I ask you something?" Ever since my revelation, something had been bugging me.

"Anything," came the reply, with no hesitation. I was a bit surprised, as I got the feeling that he would answer any question I had with complete honesty.

"When I told everyone that Garmadon was my father, everyone backed away, as if they were scared of me. Everyone, that is, except for you. Why is that?"

"Do you want me to treat you like a monster?" He looked very puzzled at my question. "Did you _expect_ me to treat you like a monster?" He seemed very put out.

"No! I would never have expected that of you! I only want to know why. It's important." I gave him my best puppy dog look. He sighed.

"As far as I am concerned, you aren't your father, and you don't bare his shame. You are Lia, teal ninja, beautiful girl, and funny and kind friend. You are nothing like Garmadon." He turned to look at me and seemed startled. "Oh gosh, did I make you cry?" Tears were welling up in my eyes.

"Don't worry, these are tears of happiness." I paused. "That's the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me. Thank you, Cole." I startled him by giving him a bear hug.

"Well, you clearly haven't been hanging around enough decent people," he grumbled. I gave a shaky laugh. Then, something made me pause a second time. I blushed.

"Did you call me beautiful?"

Now it was his turn to blush. "Maybe," he mumbled. I laughed, and laughed and laughed, and it was long before Cole had joined me.

Cole's POV

Liana's laugh was magical. It had a beautiful, musical quality around it, and its infectious peal made me laugh too. I gazed at her and once again took in her faint freckles, strawberry blonde waves, baby blues, and lithe frame. She almost looked like an ancient elf, in her teal gi and high pony tail.

"So," she began again, "I seem to recall you singing to me when I was in my coma."

I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought know one was able to hear that. No one, not even Sensei, knew that I enjoyed singing. "You heard that?" I repeated out loud.

She gave me a shy smile. "Yeah. It's what made me wake up." She blushed hard. "You have a beautiful voice. You could go pro with it." Now I was blushing again. She laughed. "Does anyone know?"

"No. I do have an image to protect, you know." She laughed harder.

"Of course," she said sarcastically. She gently removed my arm from her waist but, to my great satisfaction, kept a hold of my hand. "C'mon. Let's go tell Sensei that it's time to go get us some golden weapons."

Kai's POV

I didn't quite know what to think when Cole and Lia walked into the room holding hands. Clearly, something had happened between them while Cole kept his constant vigil over her. I had to admit that Jay was right. They did move as if they had known each other for years, moving in gentle tandem, always aware of what the other was doing and needing no vocal communication. I sighed. My window of opportunity had passed the moment Sensei walked into the shop.

Lia looked at Sensei. "I am read

I didn't quite know what to think when Cole and Lia walked into the room holding hands. Clearly, something had happened between them while Cole kept his constant vigil over her. I had to admit that Jay was right. They did move as if they had known each other for years, moving in gentle tandem, always aware of what the other was doing and needing no vocal communication. I sighed. My window of opportunity had passed the moment Sensei walked into the shop.

Lia looked at Sensei. "I am ready." Sensei nodded.

"The first golden weapon we will retrieve will be the Scythe of Quakes. It is located in an active mine to the south of here. Come, we will take the horse carriage." He turned and left the monastery.

"I get the feeling that Sensei is taking us for a ride," Cole muttered.

"If it means finding my best friend, than sign me up," Lia answered, and followed Sensei out of the monastery.

~oOo~

"_Sign me up_. Oh, wait to go windbag," Jay complained as we pulled the carriage to the mine. The pull shaft consisted of two sections, one up front with Lia and Cole, and one right behind them with me, Jay, and Zane.

"Oh shut up," I said. "So, where did Sensei find all of you?"

"I was testing my strength," said Cole, "Mountain climbing."

"I was testing my invention," Jay answered, "by jumping off a building." This elicited a giggle out of Lia, and Jay shot her a look.

"I was testing myself," Zane said, "by holding my breath underwater for hours at a time." Impressive.

"And Kai was testing my patience," Lia said, which earned a genuine laugh from everyone, including me and Sensei.

"You know," I began, "if it wasn't for Sensei, none of us would have ever been seen together." Sensei had assembled the perfect team.

The perfect team to save Nya.

**So tell me what you think! If I really like your review, you might get mentioned next time!**

**Cole: If it was up to me, you would answer everyone's reviews.**

**Me: Cole?! How did you get in? I locked the door!**

**Cole: Lia let me in.**

**Lia: Guilty as charged.**

**Me: You guys! Oh well, at least the readers seem to like you…**


	6. Chapter 6

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago Fanfiction**

**A/n: Sorry I haven't updated. Yesterday was just exhausting. I had a basketball tournament and a piano concert!**

**Jay: You're too busy for me even? *Puppy dog eyes***

**Me: Argh! You guys are driving me crazy. Anyways, all of you reviewers are totally AMAZING! A special shout out to Ninja Isabel. She has totally given me a great idea for when the prophecy is revealed! You should check out her fanfic!**

**Jay: Am I in it? Does she describe me as hot? Am I dating Nya? Does her OC like me?**

**Me: Ugh! Yes, kinda, think so, when she's not possessed. Moving on…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot. Oh, and a warning…**

**It's that time of the month, so my hormones are all mixed up, so sorry if this is extra fluffy!**

Cole's POV

All of the ninja and I crept up to the top of the ridge and watched the skeletons as they mined one edge of the canyon. I glanced at my team and felt my gaze linger on Lia, even though I couldn't see her face. Even with her hood up you could tell that she was beautiful…

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. For this mission, I would need all of my wits about me.

"Cole, have a plan?" Jay and Nya asked simultaneously and shot twin glares at the other. Or, I assume they were glares, their eyes wrinkled the same way.

"Sure do. First, we rappel down this cliff, second, we- Where's Kai?" I hissed, losing my train of thought. The other two turned to look at where the red ninja had been standing, then started scanning the mine for where he might have gone.

Finally, Zane spotted him flipping behind a sentry. Liana looked like she wanted to throw something. "The idiot!" she whisper-shouted. "He's gonna get himself captured or killed!"

The remaining four ninja and I made our way down to the main command, where we finally caught up to Kai and observed Samukai looking at the map to the five elemental weapons. "He's looking at it upside down!" Zane mouthed to us. When Samukai left, Zane used his shuriken to grab the map off of the table. The skeletons had been digging on the wrong side of the mine.

We quickly flipped our way over to the hidden cavern. Or, rather, Kai the hothead flipped and left the rest of us to cover his tracks. Once inside the cavern, we all pulled our hoods back to look at the giant boulder blocking our way and tried not to laugh at Kai's feeble one-man attempt to move it. Lia walked up to Kai and flicked him in the head. It was all the rest of us could do to hold in or chuckles. "What was that for?" he complained while rubbing his head.

"For being an impulsive idiot. We are supposed to be a team, remember?"

Kai's POV

From the moment that I took off without four of my teammates, any chance I had of dating Lia in the near future had vanished.

Because I was rash, my crush had called me and idiot and flicked me on the head.

I was disgusted with myself.

Together, all five ninja pushed away the boulder and entered the cave. We stood back and admired its natural beauty before Cole spotted the scythe. He sprinted forward and grabbed. We all broke into quiet cheers. Lia walked up to where Cole was standing and did something that made my heart stop.

She kissed him on the cheek.

My heart broke in two.

She had never been interested in me.

Because I was a total jerk.

Cole stood there blushing as Lia gave him a hug and giggled. He was stock-still for a moment before hugging her back. The look on his face was something more than friendship or even a moderate crush.

He might not know it yet, but Cole was in love with Lia.

And, judging on how she had just kissed him on the cheek, Lia was in love with Cole.

Jay laughed loudly. "Cole, I never thought that you would fall for a girl!" Cole blushed even more and couldn't do anything but stammer.

"Kidding, kidding! We did it guys. We got the Scythe of Quakes!" he crowed.

"Jay," Zane said calmly, "you might want to keep your voice down."

"Relax, we're on the other side of the mine! No one will hear us!"

No sooner had he said that than the entire army of skeletons came pouring through the cave entrance. We immediately got into our fighting stances, even though we were spread out throughout the space.

"Protect the Scythe at all costs!" Cole called out. No duh, I was just going to give it to the skeletons.

The majority of the army rushed towards Cole and Lia, as Cole was still holding the Scythe and Lia was still standing near him. I had to distract them.

"Cole, going long!" I yelled out, running for the other end of the room. Cole chucked the Scythe to me, causing the army to change direction quickly.

"Split up!" Samukai ordered. "Make sure there are 5 skeletons to every ninja!" Okay, so they weren't complete idiots.

We each started fighting our own individual battles. We were barely getting warmed up when we heard Jay yell, "Hey, it's just like the training course! Dodge the planks, block the sword, here comes the dummy!" Everyone in the cave was distracted by a mini blue tornado with lightning coming out of it! He had discovered spinjitsu! It stopped to reveal Jay in the middle of it, kicking some serious skeleton butt.

"Jay!" I called out. "How are you doing that?"

"Hey, I'm just running through the motions!"

Zane's POV

Soon, we were all whirling around the cave in our own miniature twisters. Kai was a whirling mass of fire, Cole was a twisting mess of stinging rocks and sand, Jay was speeding around electrocuting every skeleton in his path, and Lia's winds curled around her, making her purple hurricane larger and more powerful than any of ours.

As for me, mine was ice white. I whirled to exit my tornado and stood in front of two skeletons, shurikens twirling. "I sense you don't stand a chance," I told them logically. They both screamed "Retreat!" and ran for the exit, leaving their army to stampede after them. Soon, Kai, Lia, Cole, and Jay all ended their tornadoes and stood next to me. Lia was the first one to break the silence.

"We did it!" she called out, and a grin spread across her face, celebration broke out among us. Kai and Jay belly-bumped than gave me a high five, and Lia and Cole…

We froze.

Because, right before us…

Cole was kissing Lia, and Lia was kissing him back.

Liana's POV

Kissing Cole was the best thing in the world. Everything seemed to melt away, except for his warm hands on my waist, my arms looped around his neck, and his lips on mine. We stayed that way for what seemed like a long time and no time at all before we broke apart, and even then we couldn't look anywhere but into each other's eyes.

A nervous cough behind us stirred us out of our revelry, and we turned to see the three other ninja looking at us strangely.

Jay just had this blank look on his face, as if he knew something was going to go wrong and he was simply waiting for it to happen.

Zane looked curious, as if he had never seen a kiss before and was wondering what it might mean.

And Kai…

Kai looked like he could throw something. He looked like he was ready to murder someone and hide the evidence. He looked like…

Like someone who had just gotten their heart broken.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, we were saved from what was promising to be an awkward conversation by a roar off to our left. We all turned to look, and a horned head was pushing its way through the solid rock. Beside me, Cole turned pale and uttered a single word.

"Dragon."

**DUHDUHDUN! So what did you think? Did I do my romance right? Let me know if you a pro LiaxCole or LiaxKai. I would like to know your honest opinion. Not saying I'll change my story, I'm just curious! Also, I won't be able to update very much because its finals week…**

**Cole: You better get some sleep. Don't want you to get tired and suddenly think that Kai should take my girl.**

**Kai: I think that she needs more sleep! She is obviously sleep deprived if she let you have Lia instead of me!**

**Jay: How many times do I have to tell you? She's EVIL!**

**Me: *sigh* Boys will be boys…**

**All 3: What's that supposed to mean?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Lia: Hello awesome people! Once again, I have beaten Boogalee to her author's not-**

**Me: um, I typed the title before you shut down the computer. Does that count as "beaten"?**

**Kai: Yeah, yeah, you're both pretty. Now, can we please move onto the thank yous?**

**Me: *blushes* Um, okay. Thank you to the 6 people who reviewed chapter 6. Interesting how that number played out, isn't it?**

**Kai and Lia: GET ON WITH IT!**

**Me: Sorry, I'm distracted, finals and all. So, people, don't get offended if I don't respond to you. You are awesome, I'm just super busy. That being said, 8zBL, I meant for that kiss to seem a little premature. You'll see why. KatStorm, even though I am the author, Jay's responses crack me up too, probably more than they should. I love writing from his POV! Especially with how suspicious it is!**

**Zane: Should you not get on with the story? You seem to be rambling.**

**Me: You're right, Zane. Like always.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Cole's POV

I.

Am.

Totally.

Confused.

One minute, I happen to be having a fantastic first kiss, the next we break apart and all the boys are staring awkwardly at us. Oh, and one more thing.

There's a dragon behind me.

Out of all the possible things that could have been hidden behind curtain number one, it was a dragon. And a particularly scary one at that.

Lia took one look at my face and her anxiety turned to full-fledged fear. My face must have looked horrible. I tried to see myself from her point of view. I was probably pale and weak and shaking…

Why was I even thinking about this? There is a freaking dragon behind me and all I can worry about is how I look to a girl! Mind you, she is a very pretty girl and I had just kissed her. I shook my head to try to get back on track. I started looking for an escape route. When the dragon had initially risen, it had caused an avalanche that had blocked the cavern entrance.

We were officially trapped.

Jay's POV

I just knew that there was something wrong with Liana. Sure, she had helped us get the Scythe and everything, but as soon as the kissing starts, bad things happen.

Hmm, maybe that should be a proverb…

Dang it! I hate my ADHD! **(No offense to anyone with ADHD. Jay is so distracted that I thought he must have it. Also, I have it rather severely myself, so I can recognize a fellow spirit ;) **I looked around. Of course, the stupid magical dragon has to go and block the entrance, leaving us trapped with said stupid magical being.

Did I mention that I hate dragons?

_All Liana's fault… All Liana's fault…_ I kept repeating that mantra in my mind as the ninja and I tried to find a way out.

Kai's POV

There was absolutely, positively no way out of this mess.

Unless…

The others are gonna hate me.

I quickly unstrapped the Scythe from my back. Knowing what I was planning, Zane yelled out, "That is not a logical solution! Sensei told us not to use the weapon!" I guess it goes without saying that I ignored him.

"Kai!" Cole tried. "This is madness! That could just bring the rest of the cave down on top of us?"

"Then what have we got to lose?" And with that, I brought the Scythe down over head.

Liana's POV

I am gonna kill Kai.

That is, if the mountain doesn't do it first. Seems like I will have to wait in line to get my crack at him.

After he struck the ground, with the Scythe of _Quakes_ no less, the cavern started to rumble as chunks of the rocking ceiling began pouring down on us. Fortunately, Zane came up with the first intelligent idea that I had heard all day. "Our spinjitsu! We can use it to escape the cave!"

We all quickly followed his example and in no time at all, we landed in a heap at Sensei's feet. While the boys were all prematurely celebrating, I was the only one who noticed Sensei.

And he looked extremely mad.

Sensei's POV

To say I was mad would be an understatement.

I was positively furious.

And while the male ninja were off belly-bumping and high-fiving and doing things for suited for a football game, Liana was the only one who was truly aware of her surroundings. She already looked like a deer caught in the headlights. _I'll make a fine ninja out of her yet._

Soon, the boys became aware that Liana wasn't celebrating, and when they looked to see why, silence spread like butter on toast.

"I told you not to use the golden weapon." They all looked shame-facedly at the ground.

"But Sensei-" Cole began. I knew it wasn't his choice to use the weapon. He's too much of a rule follower, cares too much for suspicion.

"I told you not to use the weapon in any circumstances." Again, more shuffling and murmurs.

This time Kai stepped forward. "Using it was my only choice, Sensei."

"And what makes you think that you are more important than the team?"

Then, deathly quiet, "They took my sister."

To everyone's surprise, Lia spoke up. "Kai, Nya is the closest thing I have ever had to a real family. You got to grow up with her. Imagine how I feel. I never trusted anyone with my feelings, never got too close, until I met your sister. Imagine how it feels to have that one person in the whole world that you trust ripped away from you." She said all of this in an oddly quiet and vulnerable voice. I looked closer and realized that I had made her cry. Oh gosh, I can't do anything right! Hurting her was like slugging myself in the nuts!

She turned and walked away, going probably 50 yards before stopping with her back to us and sitting down Indian style, her shoulders heaving wit unheard sobs, her hood on the ground at my feet where she had let it drop after our dramatic exit. Cole walked over to comfort her, and, as I picked up the small piece of cloth, I couldn't help that the rest of my heart was walking away with him.

Cole's POV

I hadn't realized how difficult it was to trust someone, never broken someone's trust or had someone break my trust.

But, then again, I wasn't Lia.

I didn't know much about her life, but from the way she talked and acted, I could tell that she had always been alone. She had only truly trusted one person, and then that single person had been ripped from her right in front of her eyes.

No wonder she was sobbing.

I quietly walked up and stood behind her, unsure of what to do from here.

What do you say to a girl who you just kissed, survived a dragon attack with, and learned the truth depth of her suffering?

"If you're here to comfort me," she said, startling me out of my revelry, "You can go away. Nothing can help me right now." She was right. She didn't need comfort. She just needed a shoulder to cry on.

I went and sat next to her. "I'm not here to comfort you. I'm here to keep you company." With that, I put my arm around her shoulder, and soon she was full out sobbing into my chest. I simply held her and rocked her back and forth, letting her cry herself out.

When she was all out of tears to cry, she pulled out of my embrace and gave me a teary eyed smile. "Sorry." I looked down to see a tear stain on my gi.

"Don't worry about it." I sat back and looked up at the sky. "You know, I've been a loner too. My mom died in childbirth and my dad… well, we don't exactly see eye to eye." That was something that Lia could relate well with. "I've been running all over the place, trying to find where I belong. And now, Lia, I've found that place, and you've found it too, believe it or not. We belong here, among the ninja."

She looked at me and smiled a true smile that almost reached her eyes. "Thank you, Cole." She too turned to look at the sky. "I think that you are right."

Now that I got that out of the way, there was something else that we needed to talk about. "On a totally unrelated note, I'm sorry for the kiss."

I expected a lot of reactions from her. Sarcasm, disgust, contempt, maybe even a joke. But not surprise.

"Why would you apologize for that?"

"Well, to be honest, you hardly know me, and I hadn't even asked you on a date yet."

She laughed. "You are silly, you know that right?"

I blushed. "So," I began, "after this whole golden-weapon fiasco is done, would like to go out with me?"

She grinned. "Of course."

**So, satisfied? Oh, and just a warning, I probably won't update till Friday night.**

**Lia: Really? You can stand me away from me that long?**

**Jay: It's probably better for her health. After all, you are trying to totally annihilate us all to clear the way for your evil, masochistic father to take over all of Ninjago.**

**Lia: Um, who said he was masochistic?**

**Jay: So, you admit that he's evil!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Cole: So, Lia was a little busy. So I decided that I would take over her customary job of inspiring Boogalee. That is to say, driving her insane.**

**Me: *mimicking Sensei* You have achieved your goal. *clears throat* Well, you are slightly less annoying than Jay.**

**Jay: I'll take that as a compliment.**

**Zane: *uncomfortably* Should we not move on to the appreciation segment?**

**Cole: *stifles a laugh* Sure buddy. To MoonOfMoons, thank you, Boogalee tries very hard to make Lia flow with the story. Thanks for that, by the way. Lia is freakin' awesome.**

**Me: Don't mention it.**

**Cole: To KatStorm, Boogalee thanks you for the compliment and seconds the motion that Jay should try not to kill Lia. Is it possible to third a motion? Anyways, I agree.**

**Jay: Ah, come on, you know she doesn't own us, only Lia and some of the plot! Oh, and she doesn't own Fireflies by Owl City either.**

Jay's POV

It was official.

I was bored.

And a bored Jay is never a good thing.

Because Jay starts to talk about himself in third person.

Argh! I am going insane! After the general drama surrounding the kiss, dragon, and overall mess of teenage hormones, we all headed towards a boat that Sensei had prepared for us. Next stop, the Temple of Ice, to retrieve the Shurikens of Ice.

I stood at the prow of the ship and watched as Cole tried to carefully navigate between the floating icebergs. "I spy something…white." I tried. Cole just rolled his eyes.

"Would you be quiet? This ain't as easy as it looks." I shrugged and went to stand at the prow again. This time, to my displeasure, Liana joined me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked scornfully.

She shrugged. "You seemed bored. I thought I'd keep you company." She looked me in the eye with curiosity. "Do you like music?"

Of all the things she could have said, this was the one I didn't expect. "Um, yeah. Who doesn't?"

She smiled and started to sing in a beautiful, melodic, alto voice:

_You would not believe your eyes  
If ten million fireflies  
Lit up the world as I fell asleep  
'Cause they'd fill the open air  
And leave tear drops everywhere  
You'd think me rude  
But I would just stand and stare_

As if this wasn't enough, what with her beautiful voice _and_ looks, she started dancing. She whirled and twirled around the ship, occupying everyone's attention, even, maybe especially, Cole's and Kai's. Their eyes followed her every movement and noted every breath she took and every stride she glided. She continued to sing.

_I'd like to make myself believe  
That planet Earth turns slowly  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep  
'Cause everything is never as it seems_

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs  
From ten thousand lightning bugs  
As they tried to teach me how to dance  
A foxtrot above my head  
A sock hop beneath my bed  
The disco ball is just hanging by a thread  
(Thread, thread...)

As Liana continued to sing and dance, the ship began to drift off course. Was I the only one who noticed?

_I'd like to make myself believe  
That planet Earth turns slowly  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep  
'Cause everything is never as it seems  
(When I fall asleep)_

Leave my door open just a crack  
(Please take me away from here)  
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac  
(Please take me away from here)  
Why do I tire of counting sheep?  
(Please take me away from here)  
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep  
(Ha-ha)

To ten million fireflies  
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes  
I got misty eyes as they said farewell  
(Said farewell)  
But I'll know where several are  
If my dreams get real bizarre  
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar  
(Jar, jar, jar...)

Actually, this song was about what I was feeling right now. It feels like everything was a dream.

_I'd like to make myself believe  
That planet Earth turns slowly  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep  
'Cause everything is never as it seems  
(When I fall asleep)_

I'd like to make myself believe  
That planet Earth turns slowly  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep  
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

Dang, her timing was crazy. Everyone applauded when she was finished, but she looked towards the front of the ship, and, even from my distant position, I could see her eyes widen.

Liana's POV

I can't believe that I got so caught up in the song, that I would be so blissfully ignorant of my surroudings, to not notice that we were heading straight to an icy grave. Cole had neglected the wheel while watching me dance, and now was in a kind of haze that didn't seem to allow him to function properly.

I leapt forward and yanked hard on the wheel, causing the ship to veer away from the glacier that was located at the starboard (right) side and towards the bank on the port (left) side. Wait a minute…is that the temple?

Somehow, I managed to steer the ship up right along the bank and Jay was the only one with enough awareness to drop the anchor. The others were still in a kind of daze. I walked up to Cole and snapped my fingers in front of his face. "Hellooo? Earth to Cole." I chuckled at the slight word play.

My giggling seemed to do what my fingers could not. He looked down at me and seemed at a loss for words. "Lia…beautiful voice…dancing…amazing…" he shook his head and blushed, realizing that he had been saying utter nonsense. I held back a giggle again and took his hand. "Come on , Captain Oblivious, we're here."

~oOo~

Zane lead the way up to the ice temple. As I walked in, I couldn't help but notice the ethereal beauty of it all. Ice was cold and beautiful, glittering and deadly.

Zane's POV

I could see the awe in my comrades faces as they saw for the first time the complete deadliness and beauty of ice. I could remember the first time it caught my wonder too.

It was one of my first memories.

Shaking away the thought, I soon noticed the people frozen around the room. Their faces were all frozen in varying degrees of terror, and I saw that most of them looked like they had tried to steal the magic weapons. I sincerely hoped that that wouldn't become our fate as well.

Finally, I noticed the Shurikens dangling from the ceiling. The boys gave me a boost up, and as soon as I grabbed them, I was covered in a layer of ice. A rumble roared throughout the cavern, frighteningly similar to the one we had heard at the mine.

Not one to take chances, Cole instantly lowered me and put me on his shoulder to carry me out. All of the ninja ran out, but somehow there was a backup by the door and they all started sliding down the slick slope, using me like a sled.

We only managed to stop when I crashed headfirst into a pillar.

PRO: All of the ice broke off of me.

CON: I was going to have a serious headache later.

PRO: We had managed to retrieve the Shurikens and avoid the dragon.

CON: On top of the headache, I was going to have to make sure that I retained all of my extremities, due to the extremely cold ice.

**Tell me what you think! Also, is it just me, or does Zane seem like the forgotten ninja?**

**Zane: I am confused. I thought that all ninja are equal.**

**Cole: Sure they are buddy. You're just different.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**A/N: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in forever! I have just been busy with the holidays...**

**Anyways, the Ninja are on holiday in Bermuda, so this c omes from an outside source. Also, I apologize if this chapter doesn't have super good spelling. I'm typing this on my phone...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot.**

Chapter 9

_Darkness._

_Time._

_The time had come for the Darkness to rise again._

_From its unseen perch amidst the trees Darkness watched as the oblivious ninja slept. If it had a face, it would be sneering. The one in red was snoring like an elephant with a cold._

_Quickly, quietly, it sent its tendrils of shadow creeping toward the ninja. With a smirk, it thought of all the ways it had already affected the ninja..._

The blue one, who normally would have fallen head over heels for the girl.

The red one, who was ready to strangle the black one for taking the girl.

The whitte one, burying already hidden memories even deeper than before.

The girl, mixing up her brutal emotions for her father even more.

Even the old one, making him suspicious of everything and nothing at the same time.

_Only one ninja was unaffected by the steafy increase of darkness. _

The ninja dressed the darkest has the lightest heart. How...poetic.

_Sensing the Darkness's increasing emotion, all the ninja stirred in their sleep. A few faces took on a look of deep discomfort, as if a snake was slithering down their spine. Again, only the black ninja was in a different mind set._

_Thr Darkness seemed to cackle. It was patient. Sooner or later, something would happen the darken his heart, and when that happened, it would be ready to spread._

_The Time would come._

Liana's POV

In my sleep, my pleasant dream invovling llamas and pies was disrupted with a dark cackle. I shifted uncomfortable with the sudden change in mood.

Kai's POV

While I slept, I entered that half aware state where my mind is reeling, yet my body is still sleeping. While pondering how Lia could be so sweet with a father like hers, I felt a strangw sensation, almost as if a snake was slithering down my spine. I scrunched my face, then rolled to my side and fell into a fitful slumber.

Jay's POV

It had been a while since I was able to sleep peacefully.

Tonight was no exception.

As usual, my nightmre started in a dark hallway. No matter how far or how fast I ran,I would get no nearer to the end. I had lived through this nightmare so many times, I gave no cry of exclamation when the floor dropped out to what I knew was a bottomless pit. This time, however, a dark, sneering voice screamed wordless jeers at me as I fell. I twisted and turned as I vainly tried to escape the encroaching Darkness.

Zane's POV

As I slumbered peacefully on the ground, my dreamless sleep was interrupted with a dark feeling. I could sense malignant shadows creeping towards me, their very existence filled with hatred and fear. I squirmed as I tried to escape their dangerous embrace.

Cole's POV

I sat up, watching my team twist and turn uncomfortably in their sleep, their matching expressions making them look like like a snake was sluthering down their backs.

I shivered. It felt like some one, or some thing, was trying to forve darkness upon me...

**I know its short, but its necessary. Let me know what you think! Also, all the people who have favorited and followed this story, thank you! You guys rock especially!**

**~Boogalee**


	10. Chapter 10

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**A/N: Ok, so the ninja will be returning from their vacation so, but, as they are not back yet, this again comes from a another source. Also, sorry if this source seems a little OOC.**

**There are some people I would like to thank: Bunnyman4, Dragonfan47, Frosti1212, KatStorm, Kiera Amber, Leo is AWASOME. DON'T DENEY IT, MoonOfMoons, NancyDrewified, Rainwing127, ZaneLoverFan88, bayboo20, rabia1125, 8zBL, KaitouKiwi, and roserain1998. These are all of the totally awesome people who have favorited and/or followed my story. You are some of my most favorite people in the world.**

**Also, last chapter I didn't get a single review :(. Please please please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot! **

Chapter 10

Garmadon's POV

"What do you mean, they got the scythe and shurikens?"

Samukai stood cowarding in front of me. He was reporting on their success with the golden weapons. Apparently, he didn't have much to report.

"Um, that's not all..." he mumbled under his breath. Wait, did skeletons breathe? Pushing asideall questions and debates on the function of the undead, I made sure that my I-will-murder-you-if-this-is-bad glare was settled nicely on my face.

"That's not all?"

If possible, thskeletonon general shrunk back even farther. "They took the map as well," he whimpered.

To the surprise of my subordinate, I smiled, or, at least, I came as close as the lord of the underworld could get to smiling. "Excellent."

"Um, sir, I am confused." No duh. Samukai isn't exactly the brightest skull in the coffin.

"We will use their success against them." When he still looked confused, I sighed. "They will lead us directly to the weapons. We just need to make a little show of following them, then we can ambush them once they have the final weapon." Realization finally flooded his eyes. Took him long enough. With a sigh, I dismissed him with a wave of my hand. I needed to be alone with my thoughts.

As soon as the door was closed behind him, I collapsed onto my throne. I fought the urge to sob. I had truly lost my daughter. From the moment that Samukai reported a female ninja with blonde hair, freckles, and blue eyes, I knew it was my little Lia. Now I had no choice but to fight with her yet again. A sob did then escape as I remembered the day she ran away and took Lloyd with her.

_Lia had snapped. We had been arguing on whether or not Lloyd should recieve the same training she had._

_"He needs to have a childhood. All that training took away any chance I ever had of having anything that even resemvles normality in my life." _

_When neither of us would concede on the point, she had stormed off. Before long, I began feeling guilty, despite my darkened heart, and eent to go apologize. When I knocked on her door, there was no answer. I quietly eased it open, only to find an empty room. There was a small note set on the bedside table. I picked it up._

Father:

I have had enough. I need to break free. I have taken Lloyd with me. Hopefully he will have some semblance of a normal life, away feom your influence. I am sure that I can find us a better home than the one that we barely had here. No matter what, thoufh, you are still our father. We will always love you. Please remember that before you consider whether or not to come after us. I am doing this for Lloyd.

Love,

Lia.

_I sat there in a stunned silence. In a daze, I wlked out of the room. I would not go after them. She was probably right. Lloyd does need a childhood. I closed the door behind me._

_I would never open it again._

Reaching into my pocket, I took out a worn and folded piece of paper. It was the only thing I had left of my Lialily. It contained her love, and it was probably the only thing that had kept me sane during my time in the underworld.

I carefully put the seven-year-old paper back into my pocket. Why did she have to be a ninja? It was one more division line between me and my daughter. Really, my only wish was to be the father that she deserved. She was really a sweet and caring person. She needed a sweet and caring father who would help her use it for good, not a father whose very nature had been changed to complete darkness and evil.

And Lloyd. Why did Lloyd want to be like me? He should have just stayed with Lia. Instead, he chose to go to Darkly's Boarding School for Bad Boys, saying that he was going to do great things just like his dad. Lia hadn't taken him away soon enough.

She had been too late.

I had taught him the wrong definition of great.

Sighing yet again, I went to go organize the troops. I couldn't trust an idiot like Samukai to do it right.

**I know, its short! I typed this one on my phone too. Please please please please please please please review!**

**~Boogalee**


	11. Chapter 11

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Lia: Hey guys! I'm back! Did ya miss me?**

**Cole: of course they did! Who wouldn't miss you?**

**Me: Actually, I had fun writing the point of view of... My other sources.**

**Lia: Why did you hesitate?**

**Me: Anyways, thank you to ZaneLoverFan88, Frosti1212, and KaitouKiwi for their excellent and friendly reviews. KaitouKiwi, I can always count on your to point things like that out! Thank you!**

**Jay: Yeah yeah yeah, get on with the story already! This is the one where we get the nun chucks!**

**Me: Ok! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot! **

Chapter 11

Liana's POV

When we went to get the Scythe, Sensei had us pull a horse carriage.

When we got the Shurikens, we rode on a magnificent sailing ship.

So, naturally, when we went to go het the Nun chucks of Lightning, we took the NART bus.

We all climbed in and choose our seats. Kai and Jay sat in the front row with matching sneers on their faces. Kai had been in a stink ever since we got the Scythe, and I didn't understand why.

Behind them sat Zane, by himself. He sat quiet and perfectly still. It almost looked like he was meditating on a smelly bus fully of crying babies and angry accountants. I didn't even know that that was possible.

Cole and I sat behind them all, watching as they all assumed their various poses and facial expressions.

"Why does Jay hate me so much?" I asked Cole. I had just caught Jay giving me the eye over his shoulder. Did I do something to him?

Cole seemed startled by my answer. "Well, he doesn't exactly _hate _you."

"Well, he certainly doesn't like me. What's his problem?"

If possible, Cole looked even more uncomfortable. "Well, he thinks your father sent you as a spy."

"What!? Why would he think that?"

"I have no idea! Jay isn't normally someone who judges people. I think that there must be something messing with his mind, to make him suspicious of a beautiful girl like you."

That cheered up my mood a little bit. "Did you just call me beautiful?" I elbowed him playfully.

"Maybe," he replied. I laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Jay's POV

This bus ride was taking freaking for EVER!

After what seemed like months, but in actuality was only 20 minutea, it dropped us all of in front of some faceless major bigwig company. A lightning storm could be seen moving in from the west. Strange direvtion for storms to be coming from this time of year. It promises to be a real howler then. Storms from the west only develop over the rough spring seas and there is an almost feral feel to them. I looked at my team and Liana.

"Okay, so we want to get this job done before that typhoon rolls in, otherwise we will get blown right of the building." I distributed one of my inventions to everyone. " Remember, these are only for emergencies."

"Um guys?" Liana interrupted. "We might want to get a move on. We have some company."

We all looked to where she was pointing and saw a small legion of skeletons approaching.

"Okay, change of plans," I told them. "Get to the top of this building and then use these babies to get the heck out of here!" Soon, we were all scrambling our way up the side of the sky scraper.

"Jay, we aren't gonna make it time!" Cole called out from below. I looked back to see that the skeletons had almost caught up to us.

"Liana, you and Cole hang back to buy us some time!" As much as I didn't like leaving my life in the hands of her, I had to admit that she and Cole made a great team and were the right people to hold of the skeletons. I looked back in time to see Liana nod her affirmative before dropping lightly to the nearest landing, Cole landing a half second behind her.

I turned my head up and kept climbing with Zane and Kai at my side.

Cole's POV

I glanced at Lis and saw that she already had her bow of her back and was firing at the legion below us. At her, I knew, two daggers were hidden I need the folds of the tight sash that tied her gi together. She caught me staring and grinned. "Seen enough yet?"

I blushed and grumbled, then made a show of getting my iron scythe of my back and into battle position. She giggled, but kept firing itno skeleton ranks. Her aim was impeccable.

When the skeletons were too close to use her bow, she drew her daggers. Each silver balde was as long as my fore arm, and she moved them with precision, even the one she clutched tighly in her left hand. She joined me in battle position, and together we prepared for the onslaught of skeletons.

Kai's POV

I huffed and puffed as we climbed to the top of the building. I tried to keep my thoughts on climbing, but they just wanted to wander.

Why had Jay told Lia and _Cole_ to stay behind? I mean, I get Lia, she is obviously the most experienced fighter among us, but Cole?

I needed to stop worrying about this. I refocused on the task at hand and saw that we were almost to the top. Jay reached the top first and helped pull Zane and me up. We stood there gazing at the tall metal pole in front of us.

The storm raged in, and lightning began to strike.

Zane's POV

I was feeling strange.

Ever since the lightning had first struck in the distance, I had felt like someone was messing with my insides.

Jay's POV

I stood at the base of the pole and started to filp my way up the the top.

I was a complete idiot. You can't expect to climb at metal pole at the top of a skyscraper I. The middle of a lightning stoem and not expect to get strcuk at some point.

As soon as I grabbed the nun chucks that were dangling at the top of the pole, lightning hit me.

As if that wasn't bad enough, at that precise moment, a dragon appeared in front of me. I screamed and fell off the pole. Thankfully, my mind was still working and I managed to trigger the pack on, and wings popped out. I used my glider to land lightly in front of Kai and Zane.

"We need to go."

Cole's POV

Lia and I were fighting like crazy..

The skeleton troops were in complete disarray.

Part of their problem was Lia. She whirled through their ranks, moving seamlessly beteeen spinjitsu and her fighting stance. Her daggers were a whirl of silver as she flew throught the enemy, her teal tornado generating strong winds that made it hard for the skeletons tk keep their footing.

I myself was whirling around, lashing out with my scythe as skeletons dared to attack my raging brown twister. Fianlly, Lia and I beat back that advance and took a breather. That was the third such attack that had approached, and each time we were able to beat them back.

We looked up to see our other three teammates gliding down from the top of the building.

"Lia, Cole, get out of there!" Kai cried as he flew past. Nice timing

Quickly, Lia and I triggered our gliders and jumped off the side of the building.

Sensei's POV

I watched as ninja hadded me the Nun chucks of Lightning. I wasn't surprised at how easily they had retrieved them. I was worried. Something wasn't right.

**So, what did you think? Review please!**

**Lia: Have fun!**

**Me: What was that for?**

**Lia: I was just being nice!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Me: So, I know this is a lot of posting in a little amount of time, but I have great things planned for this chapter! *laughs maniacally***

**Lia: Hey, what's so bad about this chapter? It's where I get my golden weapon!**

**Me: Um, yeah, but remember? *leans and whispers in her ear***

**Lia: *cringes* Well, just get it over with then.**

**Me: Okay, I gotta say, thanks for spending time reading this story! Thank you! A special shout out to Frosti1212, ForeverDreamer12 and ZaneLoverFan88 for their fantastic reviews. I also want to say that KaitouKiwi has got to be one of the nicest people to ever walk planet earth! Thank you thank you thankyou thankyouthankyou!**

**Jay: Hey, you sound like me!**

**Lia: Oh geez, she needs more sleep then.**

**Me: You're probably right.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Lia and some of the plot! Also, I do not own "Edelweiss" from the Sound of Music, or "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan.**

Chapter 12

Sensei's POV

I looked at the ninja gathered around me. They all seemed eager to know which weapon they would be sent to retrieve next. I sighed, knowing that it wouldn't be wise to put it off any longer. "Next, you will be going after the Tessens of Wind," I told them.

Liana squealed. "Oh my gosh, the wind weapons are tessens? Those are my absolute favorite weapon to use!" The rest of the ninja looked at her with confused expressions. Seeing these, she explained, "Tessens are war fans, literally translated to iron fans. Only the most elite samurai and kunoichi used them." Seeing as this only added to their confusion, she elaborated again. "A kunoichi is a female ninja."

"Well, why don't we call you a kunoichi then?" Zane asked, perplexed.

"I thought it was stupid that the girls should be called something different. Reasons why you should not call me that: one, it takes way longer to say 'kunoichi-go' than to say 'ninja-go'. Two, I feel like a part of the team when we just call ourselves the ninja," she stated simply.

Cole laughed. "Makes sense. Time to go get us some Tessens!"

Jay's POV

Okay, so when we go to get the lightning weapon, we had to take a NART bus.

When we get anything else, our transportation has an ethereal feel to it.

To go get the Tessens of Wind, we were riding beautiful horses. Mine was a tall palomino with an energetic attitude. I named him Fred. "Come on, Fred," I whispered to him. "You can make it up the mountain."

It was rather unfortunate that the Wind Shrine rested on the crest of one of the tallest mountains in Ninjago.

I looked at my team to find that Zane was just off in his own little world as usual and that Liana was chatting amiably with both Cole and Kai. I couldn't help but notice that whenever Liana was looking the other way, they would shoot each other death glares that clearly said _she's mine, back off_. I scowled. I mean, I know why Kai would be blind to my accusations, he's known her for seven years, but Cole was completely enchanted with her. I just hope he wakes up before he bites a poison apple.

Cole's POV

I was seriously enjoying this horse ride.

I looked down at my jet black horse. I decided to call him Knight, laughing silently at the irony of the name. I looked to my left to see Lia atop a brilliant pure white stallion. With her teal gi, glinting daggers, and long braids, she looked like a mighty elfin warrior, atop her noble steed. Her delicate lips parted and a musical laugh escaped her as she laughed at something that Kai had said.

I could listen to her laugh all day. I watched as she leaned down to pet Argentum, her horse. She told me that it meant silver.

I couldn't believe it. My not-quite girlfriend was beautiful and smart.

I was soon distracted from my thoughts, however, by our arrival at the top of the mountain.

In front of me loomed the Wind Shrine.

Liana's POV

I shivered as I saw the enormous shrine looming ahead. It seemed haunted, in a sad sort of way, like it was waiting for someone who had never come. I dismounted from Argentum.

Quietly, as if they too sensed to temples melancholy, the ninjas of ice, fire, lightning and earth dismounted from their horses and joined me as I made my way carefully into the temple.

My footsteps echoed eerily as I wound my way deeper into the shrine. Finally, when I was wondering if it would pop us out on the other side of the mountain, we entered a spacious chamber. Hovering directly in the middle were gold tessens, already spread out and prepped for battle. Cautiously, I walked out and grabbed them. The second I did, a monstrous gale was unleashed, and tremendous winds buffeted everyone in the room except for me. Helpless, I could only watch as the winds seemed to herd them up and pushed them into the narrow hallway again. It seemed to follow them, and I was able to run into the hallway in pursuit.

~oOo~

By the time I finally caught up to them, the ninja were fighting for their lives, trying to stop the winds from pushing them off the side of mountain. I watched in despair as Cole's foot slipped and he tumbled over the sides.

The second his foot fell off, the winds stopped. In desperation, I raced over to the cliff, hoping that Cole and found a ledge to grab. I sighed with relief when I saw that he had only fallen a few feet before catching himself, and helped back up.

Once he was solidly on the mountain again, he smothered me with a hug. "Thank goodness you're okay," he muttered into my hair.

Unfortunately, Jay overheard that remark. "Thank goodness she's okay? Cole, didn't you notice that she was the only one those winds left alone?" He turned to me and his eyes narrowed. "You. This is all your fault. You directed those winds to us. You didn't bother to try to stop them. You nearly killed Cole!" I took a sharp intake of breath. His words stung, deeper than I cared to admit.

"Jay, you don't know what you're saying. Lia would never hurt me-" Cole was trying to reason, but then was interrupted by Kai.

"Oh, of course she would never hurt you, she likes you," she sneered, his voice oozing with sarcasm. "You need to wake up, buddy. You may think that you appreciate her, but that is nothing, _nothing¸_ compared to what I feel for her!"

Cole was beginning to get angry. "Oh? And what is that?" he said tauntingly.

"Love!" Kai positively roared. "I have been in love with her from the time we were twelve, when I first heard her sing 'Edelweiss' in the sixth grade talent show!"

I stood there in shock, watching as they all bickered over me, as if I wasn't there. Jay had never so openly spoken his suspicions, and Kai… I didn't know quite what to think of Kai's revelation.

It broke my heart to see the team so broken up because of me.

Stifling a sob, I quietly ran away, seeking refuge from the barrage of emotions, and, deep inside, wondering how long it would be before someone noticed.

Cole's POV

I hate bickering.

Once people start yelling, things are never quite the same afterwards.

I quickly backed out of the argument. I looked to see that Zane was watching the proceedings with a confused look on his face. I walked over to him. The minute I arrived, Zane asked, "Why have you not gone after Lia yet? I thought you loved her, and yet she left five minutes ago without you noticing." He was truly perplexed by my behavior.

I spun around. True to his word, there was no Lia to be seen. Too distressed to deny his assumption of love, I looked him squarely in the eye and asked, "Which direction did she go?"

With a solemn face, he pointed west, into a small forest. Without hesitation, I raced in.

~oOo~

Even at my top speed, it took me 20 minutes to find Lia. When I finally found her, she was sitting in a small clearing covered with white flowers. Her shoulders heaved with small sobs as she quietly sang.

_Edelweiss, edelweiss  
Ev'ry morning you greet me  
Small and white  
Clean and bright  
You look happy to meet me_

Blossom of snow  
May you bloom and grow  
Bloom and grow forever  
Edelweiss, edelweiss  
Bless my homeland forever

I know understood why Kai had fallen in love with her when she sang this song. Her quiet alto voice created a mood so intense, I could feel my heart twisting. When she was done singing, she put her head between her knees and started to openly sob. I decided now was the best time to approach.

Liana's POV

I was sobbing into my knees when I heard footsteps in front of me. I looked up to see Cole walking towards me. I looked down again. "You know," I said, "I would say that you can't comfort me, but I doubt that you will listen." He gave a shaky laugh.

"You don't need comfort. You need company." He sat down beside me and pulled me into his lap. Then, once I was situated, began to sing in his enchanting, baritone voice.

_Spend all your time waiting  
For that second chance  
For a break that would make it okay  
There's always some reason  
To feel not good enough  
And it's hard at the end of the day  
I need some distraction  
Oh beautiful release  
Memories seep from my veins  
Let me be empty  
And weightless and maybe  
I'll find some peace tonight_

In the arms of the angel  
Fly away from here  
From this dark cold hotel room  
And the endlessness that you fear  
You are pulled from the wreckage  
Of your silent reverie  
You're in the arms of the angel  
May you find some comfort here

So tired of the straight line  
And everywhere you turn  
There's vultures and thieves at your back  
And the storm keeps on twisting  
You keep on building the lies  
That you make up for all that you lack  
It don't make no difference  
Escaping one last time  
It's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh  
This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

In the arms of the angel  
Fly away from here  
From this dark cold hotel room  
And the endlessness that you fear  
You are pulled from the wreckage  
Of your silent reverie  
You're in the arms of the angel  
May you find some comfort here  
You're in the arms of the angel  
May you find some comfort here

I gave a shaky laugh. "You know, Cole, you always know just what to sing to me."

He gave me a small smile. He didn't say anything and he barely moved.

He just gave me a small kiss on the lips.

**So, did I do good? Review please!**

**Cole: I am so glad that that chapter is done! I did not like to relive it.**

**Jay: Oh, and you think I did?**

**Me: *groans* Please, **_**Please**_** don't start fighting again!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Cole: Hey guys! What did you think of that last chapter? Did you like my singing?**

**Lia: Of course they did! Who couldn't like it when the great Cole Blacksmith sings? *kisses him on the cheek***

**Me: Um, guys? This is supposed to be about this chapter.**

**Zane: But what about the reviews for last chapter? Do they count as this chapter or last?**

**Me: Hmm…I don't know. Anyways, thanks to NancyDrewified, MoonOfMoons, 8zBL, KaitouKiwi, and ZaneLoverFan88 for their fabulous reviews! You guys rock!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 13

Liana's POV

Soon, my blissful moment with Cole came to an end, and we had to make our wake back to the ninja. We met them half way back to the shrine. Turns out, they had gotten worried and come looking for us.

When we got back to the horses, I adjusted Argentum's saddle to make sure it was comfortable for her. While brushing her soft hide, Kai came up to me, blushing because of embarrassment. Guessing what he wanted to talk about, I blushed too.

"Hey, Lia…" he began, before trailing off. We both shifted in discomfort.

"Hi, Kai…"

"So, I was wondering if you heard what I said about you before you, ya know, wandered off?" he kind of mumbled.

"What are you thinking of? The part where you said you loved me, or did I miss something else?" Okay, so that was a little harsh, but hey, I was pretty stressed.

Kai winced. "Yeah, that part." He took a deep breath. "I wanted to let you know that it was true and that I am sorry that I didn't tell you before but the truth is that I was nervous and I-"

I cut him off wearily. "Look Kai. I am not really in the mood to discuss this right now. Is it possible that we could wait until after this whole fiasco is finished?"

Kai tried to hide his look of relief. "Sure, no problem." He went to go saddle up his own horse, Scarlet, a beautiful mare with a reddish brown coat.

Soon enough we were heading down the mountain. At the base we found Sensei Wu. He was doing some sort of weird dance thing. Wait a minute…

When I looked closer I could see that his "moves" resembled the motion of the five elements.

Zane had the same thought, but he voiced the question. In response, Sensei simply said, "If the five elements are combined in perfect harmony, than the most powerful spinjitsu move is created: the Tornado of Creation." Not much of an answer.

Of course, the minute he heard this, Kai decided to try it for himself. He had started mimicking the way Sensei was moving until Sensei cried out in distress, "Stop! If done incorrectly, it could lead to disastrous consequences!" Kai immediately froze. He looked like a kid caught stealing from the candy jar.

Garmadon's POV

I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the effort it would take to send part of my soul into the fire temple. I was about to perform the transition when I heard a knock at my door. My temper flared.

"Who dares to interrupt me?" I snapped.

Samukai nervously entered my room. The troops are in position, my lord."

Finally, he was able to do something right. "Good," I said, careful not to let him see my small smile. "Go join you troops, General." He gave a nervous bow before leaving my room.

I sighed. I had hoped that I wouldn't have to fight the ninja. Or, more specifically, Lia. I patted my jacket, to make sure that her final good bye was still in its place.

I took a deep breath, and sent part of my soul soaring into the realm above.

Kai's POV

It had been three weeks since Nya was captured.

I was worried sick.

That night, we were all gathered around the campfire. It would be our last night out abroad, and then we could return to the monastery. Jay, Cole, and Zane all felt like celebrating, so Lia and I decided to let them, hoping that our show of apparent happiness would convince them that we were happy too.

Jay and Cole were dancing while Zane tapped out a beat on some drums. Where he got them, I had no idea. Jay caught Lia and me sitting there glumly. "Hey, come on guys! Relax a little!" he called out. We were saved from answering because Cole had managed to convince Sensei to dance.

"Now watch this move. Incredibly hard!" he crowed.

"But, if done incorrectly, could it lead to disastrous consequences?" Zane joked.

We all busted out laughing. I hadn't even known that Zane had a sense of humor! That was hilarious!

The rest of the night was spent dancing and laughing, and we were all in a good mood when we headed to bed.

Cole's POV

In the middle of the night, I woke up to the chill of a blade being pressed against my throat. I looked up to see Samukai, commander of the skeletons. How delightful.

I immediately groped for my scythe, but the undead general sneered. He waved some of his henchmen forward. They were holding all of our weapons: my scythe, Zane's shurikens, Jay's nun chucks, and Lia's tessens. Wait a minute, someone was missing.

Where the heck is Kai?

Wait again…

If he had all of our weapons, then that means that…

I cautiously sat up and saw all of my companions, minus Kai, bound and gagged. Lia didn't even look conscious.

Gosh, I hope she's okay.

That was my last thought as they blindfolded and gagged me.

We were captured.

Kai's POV

_Kai._

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I must have been dreaming. I could have sworn I heard Nya calling my name.

_Kai._

Okay, was I going crazy

_Kai!_

She sounded more urgent. This is definitely not going on in my head. I looked around and saw a female figure dashing away.

"Nya, wait up!" I called. I followed here, and saw that she had led me to the fire temple. How did she know it was here?

I followed her inside. "Nya, where are you?" I cried desperately.

_I'm right here…brother. _ Her voice changed at the end, becoming more sinister, evil and…_masculine?_

Her form began to change right before my eyes. She morphed from a cute 16-year old girl to a dark, ominous, male figure. Uh oh.

A light flared in the back of the cave to show Nya, struggling in chains and hanging from the ceiling. She was slowly dropping towards the molten lava below. "Nya!"

"Kai!" she screamed. I groped behind my back, but there wasn't anything there. Shoot, I had left my sword back at camp.

The sinister voice cackled. "Missing something boy?"

Somehow, my attention turned to the center of the cavern. There the sword of fire was buried in the stone. "Take it, boy. It is the only way to save your sister!" the voice urged.

Nya screamed as she dropped even lower.

Without a second thought, I flipped out to the island in the middle and unsheathed the sword.

I stood in battle stance, ready to face the impending darkness.

**DUNDUNDUH! Cliffhanger! So, what did you think? Review please.**

**Lia: Really? You had to end it with me being unconscious?**

**Me: Hey, ever heard of suspense?**


	14. Chapter 14

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago Fanfiction**

**A/N: Ok, to keep your feeling of suspense, this is gonna be a quick author's note…**

**Yay! I have over 50 reviews! You guys rock. Thanks to MoonOfMoons, dixicorn, Frosti1212, KaitouKiwi, mykinleisawesome, and ForeverDreamer12 for your fabulous reviews! Special thanks to MoonOfMoons and KaitouKiwi for always, and I mean **_**always**_**, being supportive!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot! I don't own "Demons" by Imagine Dragons either!**

Chapter 14

Cole's POV

I woke when I felt someone untying the bonds around my wrists. I was lying in an awkward position, half on my stomach and half on my side, with my wrists behind my back. I craned my neck to look over my shoulder and saw Zane working at the knot. He gave I sigh of relief when he saw that I was okay. "Jay," he called, "Cole's awake."

He finished with the knot and I sat up, rubbing my raw wrists, trying to get feeling back into them. "What happened?" I asked.

"Samukai and his army ambushed us while we slept. Jay and I were tied up immediately, but Lia was awakened by the sounds of our struggle and put up a valiant fight. In the end, they had to resort to knocking her out, even though Samukai cringed, as if he was disobeying a direct order. Once Lia was subdued, they all gathered around you, amazed that you hadn't woken amid the chaotic fight." Zane gave a small smile. "You were snoring like an elephant with a cold, my friend."

I groaned and blushed. Why hadn't I woken up? Back at the monastery, if a fly had landed on my window, I would've woken up, yet out here, I slept through a whole battle! Something wasn't right.

Just then, another thought occurred to me. "Is Lia okay?" I asked, kind of scared for the answer.

Any remnants of Zane's smile faded away. "She has not yet woken. Jay is tending to her. If any good came out of this situation, it is that Jay no longer suspects that Liana is a spy. He doubts that the lord of the dead would risk killing his most buried agent."

I looked around, and, just like Zane had said, I saw Lia lying with her head propped up on a rock, with Jay holding a damp cloth to her forehead. Wait, what happened to our bedrolls?

"Samukai took all of our supplies," Zane said, as if reading my mind. "We have nothing."

I groaned and forced myself to stand up. I slowly hobbled over to Lia. Jay glanced at me. "She had a fever," he said worriedly, "and nothing I do brings it down."

I sat down behind Lia and cradled her head in my lap. I sighed. I had to make a decision. Trusting my instincts, I told Zane, "Take Jay and pursue the skeletons. See if you can retrieve our weapons." Zane nodded his affirmative.

"But Cole, what will you do?" Jay asked, kind of worried about splitting up even more.

I looked down to Lia and brushed some of her soft strawberry blonde hair out of her face. Asleep, her elfin features were even more prominent, and she might've been an enchanted forest, taking a nap on a lazy afternoon, if it wasn't for the goose egg rising up from her forehead. "I'm gonna stay here and look after Lia," I answered quietly.

I heard the rest of my team flip off to pursue Samukai, but all I could look at was my beautiful warrior princess.

Kai's POV

In a split second, I tried to plan my entire method of attack.

Step one: Save Nya (work out specifics in the process)

Step two: Figure out some way to fight a shadow (shadow puppets?)

Step three: Attack the shadow (once figuring out method as above)

Step four: Get the heck out of here and hope Sensei doesn't kill me when I get back to camp

Pretty simple, if you think about.

I flipped to a side of the chamber, then twirled across the lava, cutting the chains and catching Nya at the same time.

Step one: Complete

Now, as for that small matter of fighting a shadow…

I raced along the edge of the cavern, pulling Nya behind me. Suddenly, I pulled to a stop. Twelve shadows had materialized in front of me. "You won't get away from me that easily, boy!" Garmadon cackled.

In an effort to figure out how to kill something that wasn't living or dead, I tried to slice through him with my sword. It passed right through and left me off balance. Somehow, the shadow was able to kick me, though.

"Not fair!" Nya cried out behind me.

Step two: Total and utter failure.

Just when things were starting to feel completely hopeless, a new shadow appeared, kicking and punching the carbon copies of Garamadon. I looked to see who was casting the new and welcomed shadow and, standing in the middle of the cavern, Sensei had miraculously come to our rescue.

Liana's POV

_You cannot escape me._

I was wandering in a dark, smoldering place. Everywhere I looked, invincible stone warriors stood, mining, smithing, torturing. Fire and brimstone, I thought.

_I am every where, even within you._

The dark voice had haunted me during me entire tortuous, erratic scrambling. No matter how far I walked it could not find the exit.

What was worse, I didn't know if the sinister voice was inside my head or out.

_There will be no escape._

I ran faster, as if it would carry me away from the voice. I tripped and fell, feeling the cold voice slide over me and pin me down.

_The Time will come for Darkness, and nothing you can do will stop it._

My breath was becoming shorter, more like hyperventilation.

_Darkness will snuff out the light. Even the brightest light can't stand against the deepest Darkness._

An image of gold light being snuffed out by black invaded my mind.

_The purest of heart will turn greedy with avarice. All light will fail._

_Darkness will prevail._

I gave a great sob. Such hopelessness filled me as had never been felt by a human being before.

It was taking away my will to live.

As I felt my life ebbing away, I suddenly heard a familiar baritone voice cut through the darkness. My tears came harder, but the cause there of was relief.

_When the days are cold  
And the cards all fold  
And the saints we see  
Are all made of gold_

When your dreams all fail  
And the ones we hail  
Are the worst of all  
And the blood's run stale

I wanna hide the truth  
I wanna shelter you  
But with the beast inside  
There's nowhere we can hide

I gave a shaky laugh; how was it that Cole always managed to pick just the right song to help me out? Even when I was unconscious and he had no idea what was wrong with me, he picked the perfect tune.

As he continued to sing, I felt my strength slowly oozing its way back into my limbs. The sinister voice remained silent.

_No matter what we breed  
We still are made of greed  
This is my kingdom come  
This is my kingdom come_

When you feel my heat  
Look into my eyes  
It's where my demons hide  
It's where my demons hide  
Don't get too close  
It's dark inside  
It's where my demons hide  
It's where my demons hide

Curtain's call  
Is the last of all  
When the lights fade out  
All the sinners crawl

So they dug your grave  
And the masquerade  
Will come calling out  
At the mess you've made

Don't wanna let you down  
But I am hell bound  
Though this is all for you  
Don't wanna hide the truth

His singing was bringing light into this fiery place; I saw the stone warriors shying away from it, as if afraid that it would burn them.

I found the strength to stand.

_No matter what we breed  
We still are made of greed  
This is my kingdom come  
This is my kingdom come_

When you feel my heat  
Look into my eyes  
It's where my demons hide  
It's where my demons hide  
Don't get too close  
It's dark inside  
It's where my demons hide  
It's where my demons hide

They say it's what you make  
I say it's up to fate  
It's woven in my soul  
I need to let you go

Your eyes, they shine so bright  
I wanna save that light  
I can't escape this now  
Unless you show me how

Cole was showing me exactly how to return to the light. I started focusing on all of my happy memories: playing with Lloyd, hanging out with Nya, training with Kai, talking with Zane, even laughing at Jay.

And Cole.

When he cradled me after finding out who my father was.

The first time his singing saved me.

Our first hug.

Walking with him around the monastery.

Kissing his cheek.

Our first kiss.

Comforting me at the mine.

When he asked me out.

Watching his eyes light up while he watched me sing and dance.

Chatting with him on the bus.

The way he comforted and sang to me at the wind shrine.

Our sweet kiss afterwards.

As Cole sang the final chorus, I pushed with all my might to return to the light.

_When you feel my heat  
Look into my eyes  
It's where my demons hide  
It's where my demons hide  
Don't get too close  
It's dark inside  
It's where my demons hide  
It's where my demons hide_

As he finished the song, I gave a great heave.

I left the world of fire and brimstone to return to the world of happiness and light.

Cole's POV

After Zane and Jay left, I sat there gazing at Lia and remembering all the things that we had shared. I remembered how my singing had seemed to heal her, and decided it couldn't hurt to try. On instinct, I sang the first song that came to mind. "Demons".

The second I sang the last syllable, Lia gave a great gasp and sat up.

She uttered a single, breathy "Cole" before tackling me in a smothering kiss.

Zane's POV

Jay and I finally caught up to the skeletons. They were riding in strange, otherworldly vehicles.

Their transportation looked like a skeleton in and of itself. Once we were finally within distance, Jay and I flipped onto the lead vehicle.

Only then did I realize that this was a very bad idea.

We were outnumbered and weaponless.

Still, Jay and I fought valiantly, knocking several skeletons overboard as the car picked up speed.

Finally, I spotted the spot where they had our weapons locked up. I made my way over to them and tried to pick the lock. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an arm grabbed me. The person who the arm belonged to said, "I don't think so!" and threw me off the car.

Jay's POV

I watched in despair as Samukai throw Zane off of the skeleton car thing.

Now I was on my own.

It only took a little while for me to get overwhelmed and thrown off as well. I looked back just in time to see the vehicle enter a purple portal and disappear.

Go figure.

I stood up and dusted myself off, walking back down the road to find Zane. I found him making his way slowly towards me. He looked like he was injured, but I couldn't see where.

Together, we began making our slow way back to camp.

Kai's POV

Sensei was kicking some serious butt. He expertly maneuvered his own shadow around, causing disarray among the many shadows. Once, he even formed a bird shadow puppet and used it to scare away a lot of the shadows. He gave a little giggle. Finally, he stood in front of a single shadow.

"My brother," it said in its oily voice. "It has been a long time."

Sensei simply stood there calmly, waiting for Garmadon to make the first move.

"We are on different sides," Garmadon continued, "and yet… you still care for me."

"Of course I do," Sensei said simply, "You are my brother. I will always love you, much as Liana will always love you and Lloyd."

The shadow stepped back. It was clear that Sensei had startled it. In its momentary confusion, Sensei turned to me. "Toss me the sword!" he called. I did so without hesitation. Immediately, he slammed it into the thin slab off rock he was standing on and sent it drifting on the magma.

Realizing what he was planning, I screamed, "NO!"

He sat down and took out his pot of hot chocolate. "Go find the others and protect your sister," he said simply, pausing slightly before adding, "This is my sacrifice to make."

Liana's POV

Cole and I decided that, since I felt fine, we should go find Zane and Jay. While we ran through the forest, Cole explained everything to me. I shuddered. I had no memory of the fight.

Stupid bump on the head.

No more than a mile down the main road, we found Jay and Zane. Jay was supporting most of Zane's weight, and the ice ninja looked even paler than normal, if that was even possible. "What happened?" I asked, alarmed.

In concise terms, Jay explained how they had been out numbered and thrown overboard before they could retrieve the weapons while I set Zane twisted ankle and braced it using two branches of about the right length. He nodded his thanks to me, then stood up and said quietly, "We have failed."

We all looked at him. He continued.

"Sensei told us to protect the weapons. We have failed.

"They are now in the hands of Lord Garmadon."

Suddenly, there was a monstrous roar.

Garmadon's POV

I watched as Wu took the sword through the portal to the underworld. I sighed. I had rather liked being in the above world for a change.

I wondered at how twisted my life had become. Because of a snake bite, darkness had made my heart its home.

Now, due to that darkness, I was forced to fight my brother and only daughter.

They say that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

They are wrong.

All it takes is the slightest sliver of darkness to turn the purest, whitest heart into the deepest, darkest black.

Nya's POV

My brother probably would have stayed there in shock forever if I hadn't tugged on his sleeve.

"Um, Kai?" I asked timidly. I was nearly petrified with fear.

"Yeah, Nya?" was all he said, still staring at the spot where the old man had disappeared.

"Um, there's a dragon behind us," I said, even more timidly. He turned around and did the last thing I would have expected.

He totally exploded.

"This is the last straw! I am sick of it! I am sick of stupid kidnappers and stupid skeletons and stupid dark lords and stupid dragons! I thought I was doing something good by trying to protect the golden weapons but _Nooo, _apparently destiny has decided to make my life heck!"

The dragon cocked its head. It looked like it was trying to figure us out.

I finally caught on. The dragon is the _gaurdian of the golden weapons_. It thought that we had been trying to steal it.

I walked right up to the fiery red snout and laid my hand on it. Softly, I whispered, "We have the same goal. Help us."

I am not sure if it understood my words or the meaning behind my words, but either way, it got the message.

Soon we were mounted on the back of a fearsome dragon.

Zane's POV

I had lost track of how long we had been talking when we heard the roar.

It had rung suddenly from the north, sounding a death toll to all unfortunate enough to meet the beast.

According to my calculations, we had a 99.999993 percent chance of running into the creature.

We continued walking.

A spot appeared in the sky in the distance.

We kept walking.

The spot let out a terrifying roar.

Still we walked.

We kept walking right up until the monstrous red dragon landed in front of us, with Kai astride its back.


	15. Chapter 15

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Me: So, did I do good last chapter?**

**Lia: Well, you didn't leave me unconscious. I guess that's better than the one before it.**

**Me: Well, apparently some people thought I did really well. I got SEVEN reviews! Thank you to dixicorn, MoonOfMoons, ZaneLoverFan88, mykindleisawesome, Frosti1212, KaitouKiwi, and ForeverDreamer12 for their sweet (in all senses of the word) reviews! You guys rule!**

**Jay: Enough talk! Get to the story! **

**Me: Right. I am trying to finish up season one in this chapter, so sorry if it is unbearably long.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 15

Jay's POV

My throat was feeling kind of scratchy when Kai landed in front of us.

It probably didn't help that I screeched in fright when he landed. Then, I noticed that there was a pretty girl riding with him.

A _very_ pretty girl.

With short, black hair that framed her face, an olive complexion, and blazing amber eyes that told of her intelligence and cunning.

When Kai hopped off, the girl stayed on and surveyed us, like she was trying to make sense of what was happening to her.

I tried to tune back into what Kai was saying. Oh, wait, Zane's speaking. "I sense loss. The four weapons are no longer in this world. They are now in the underworld."

Suddenly, Cole spoke up from where he was hidden behind a tree. "Well, I guess that's that. We can't cross into the underworld, so we can't retrieve our weapons." Poor guy was scared stiff because of the dragon.

Kai grinned. "We might not be able to cross over, but a dragon can!"

For the first time, the pretty girl spoke up. "Our father used to tell us stories about the dragons, how they were majestic creatures that belonged to both worlds, and, as such, could cross between them."

She had said "our father". This must be Kai's sister, Nya. I glanced between them. How is it that someone as beautiful as her could have someone like _Kai_ for a brother?

Before I knew, Kai had us loaded up on the dragon. Of course, we were pretty crowded, but Kai had this plan to convince the other guardian dragons to help. On the way up, Cole slipped in his fright and his flailing foot caught my throat.

I let out a raspy gasp. I couldn't talk.

While glaring at Cole, I turned to Nya, who would be returning to her family shop rather than coming with us. I tried to rasp out a question. "Oo o ik ue?" I winced; I sounded like a monkey. Thankfully, Zane was able to translate for me.

He too turned to Nya. "Our friend cannot speak, but he was wondering if you like blue."

Nya smiled at me. "It's my favorite color." As soon as she got her last word out, the dragon took off.

Sensei's POV

I woke up in an unfamiliar environment. I was a little disconcerted until I remembered the events that took place in the fire temple. I looked down to see the fire sword just inches from my hand.

Behind the wall of rock I was currently hiding behind, I could hear the thudding footfalls of skeleton after skeleton marching by as part of a patrol, no doubt looking for me or anything that even resembles a ninja. My brother would want to make sure that his success was guaranteed. He would not want to risk the fact that the ninja might sneak in and steal the weapons back.

Taking a deep breath, as soon as the last patrol scout stomped by, I quickly took out a sheet of paper. It is one of the things that I always keep on me, like toenail clippers, my bow staff/ walking stick, and my kettle, to name a few.

I wrapped the sword in fire, covering some of the glow, before making my way into the impenetrable skeleton fortress.

Cole's POV

Out of all the things that could have protected the weapons, it had to be dragons.

Not a lion, or samurai, or ancient curse.

Just a giant, elemental dragon.

I groaned. I was super embarrassed. When Kai had first landed with his dragon, I nearly peed my pants. I heard a noise to the left of me and saw Lia trying to hold in a snicker as she looked at my face. Whatever she saw made her crack up even more. My face was still burning red.

But I had bigger problems.

I was currently riding on a dragon.

Well, to be exact, I was gripping its saddle with all of my strength. I must have looked comical, because everyone cracked up every time they glanced my way.

"So," I called out, "how exactly do these things cross into the underworld?"

Kai looked back at me. "I don't know, but I think we're about to find out!" Suddenly his dragon gave a great buck, before heading straight towards the ground.

I held on even tighter as my dragon copied his. Suddenly, a purple portal opened up in front of us, and our dragons lead us to another world.

It was like a maze of tunnels. Stalagmites, stalactites, and gems glowed everywhere. Keeping up our intense speed, out dragons soon lead us through another portal, then disappeared. I felt my feet land on solid ground.

Blessed solid ground.

I stood up and said, "Solid ground! We made it!"

My voice echoed eerily around us.

Sensei's POV

Sneaking into the fortress proved easier than I thought.

I simply had to wait for a patrol to pass, and then walk right in through the back door. I almost rolled my eyes as one skeleton completed a "ninja search", and only succeeded in destroying the contents of the wagon. My brother needs to upgrade his security.

I walked towards what I assumed was a throne room. The second I entered the door, I was surrounded by four skeletons.

Only four? I thought my brother knew me better than this.

In a single sweeping motion, I took out all of the feet with my bow staff. Easy as pie.

My brother sneered. "It's good to see you, brother."

I felt my heart twist. "I wish the feeling was mutual."

He glared at me, than looked behind him and said, "Teach him a lesson."

From the back of the room came Samukai, the four armed menace. He was armed with the four other elemental weapons. I gulped and tore the paper off of the fire sword.

This was going to be a hard battle to fight.

Liana's POV

I looked down at my gi. It had changed.

The second we entered the underworld, it changed from plane to having a golden dragon on the front, breathing out wind.

Of course I was the only one to notice the new clothes.

Then, the boys, showing the true extent of their lack of common sense, thought it would be best for us to cross the cavern using the long stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

Not their best idea, but I decided to play along.

They would need my help when they got into trouble.

Sure enough, we were directly over the courtyard when we paused. Jay was trying to tell us something, but his voice still hadn't returned. Cole seemed to sigh in relief. "May I be the first to say it had been an absolute pleasure since Jay lost his voice?" I sighed and looked to where he was pointing. I barely suppressed my shriek.

We were currently hanging from long, hairy spider legs.

I looked up to the spider that I was hanging from. Its grotesque, oversized body was perched precariously half on a ledge and half on a web. Its hairy abdomen was twitching as it watched me and my teammates. But worst of all were its eyes.

They were glowing red, and showed a malice that shouldn't be possible to be contained inside a single living thing.

Did I mention that I am scared of spiders?

Thankfully, my team choose that moment to freak out as well, only they didn't conceal their emotions nearly as well as me. They all fell towards the courtyard. Mentally rolling my eyes, I leapt nimbly after them.

Kai's POV

I was gonna pay for this fall tomorrow.

I groaned and tried to muscle up the will to move. I watched as Cole, Zane, and Jay tried to do the same.

Somehow, Lia had landed lightly and was able to use her momentum to roll to her feet. "Um, guys? You might want to hurry it up a bit." Her voice leapt an octave on that last word.

Finally, I was able to stand up. I saw what had startled Lia. We were completely surrounded by skeletons and giant hairy spiders.

Jay's POV

Could my day get anymore messed up?

I lose my voice, fly on an electric dragon, cross into the underworld, climb on giant spiders, and fall into the middle of a skeleton army.

My life is weird.

My teammates and I stood back to back, trying to figure out the best way to move forward. There were 10 skeletons and 2 spiders to every one of us. I did not like these odds.

"Any ideas?" Kai asked. "I'm open for suggestion!"

Suddenly, vaguely, I recalled Sensei telling us about the most powerful spinjitsu move. What was it called again? Oh yeah, Tornado of Creation.

Unfortunately, I couldn't tell my team that. My voice was missing remember? I tried none the less.

"Orao o eaton!" I said desperately.

"What was that?" Cole asked, "You feel a strange sensation?"

Zane also looked perplexed. "You ate an odd crustacean?"

"Oh, oh! I got it!" Kai cried out. "Two natives on vacation!"

Jeez, he looked awfully proud of himself for guessing something that was neither relevant not correct.

Liana was just as ticked off. "Guys, he is obviously saying-"

My voice came back suddenly, and we said it together. "Tornado of Creation!"

Our words echoed around the cavern, but our teammates finally got what we were trying to say. "But Sensei said it could lead to disastrous consequences!" Cole worried.

"And we are about to have a disastrous consequence if we don't do something quick!" Kai called. Can't argue with dead right logic.

Cole's eyes narrowed. "Alright, let's do this!"

Zane's POV

We started on the only course of action that made any logical sense.

It was the only one that offered us a chance at escaping death and capture.

Cole started us. "Earth!" he called, then started doing sustained spinjitsu.

Kai went next. "Fire!" He twisted off into his red tornado.

My turn. "Ice!" I soon was a whirl of white.

Distantly, I could hear Lia call, "Wind!", then saw her teal twister.

Finally, Jay yelled, "Lighting!" and added his blue tornado to our midst.

All of our tornadoes started melding into one giant one. Lia's collided with mine, and soon we were standing in the same light teal tornado. All of ours melted into one giant one, and soon we were all standing in the center of a giant, dusty brown tornado.

I now understood why it was called the Tornado of Creation. Standing inside of it, I felt like I could build anything, be any one.

I felt invincible.

Sensei's POV

I was fighting for my life.

Blow after blow, I felt myself giving ground to Samukai.

He felt it too, and began to press his advantage.

But I had to keep fighting.

Liana's POV

I liked this feeling.

It's like nothing in the world can bring me down.

I looked at the cowering skeletons that seemed to be moving in slow motion outside of our whirlwind.

"I wonder what we should do with them," I mused aloud.

We were all thinking when suddenly Jay's eyes lit up with an idea. He stepped forward and whispered it in my ear.

I giggled; it was perfect.

Together, Jay and I stepped forward, and began to build.

I don't know how it worked.

I have a vague recollection of telling the pieces where to go, but when I asked my team about, they said that they just saw Jay and me raise our hands, and our project was complete.

Jay has the same memory problem.

Cole's POV

When Jay and Lia were done, I couldn't help but laugh.

They had trapped all of the skeletons in a giant Ferris wheel.

It turned around and around, and the skeletons couldn't get off because their cages didn't have doors.

It was brilliant.

We all had a good laugh, and then headed into a section of the fortress that remained unharmed.

The throne room.

Kai's POV

When we came into the throne room, I threw out my arms to get my teammates to stop.

Sensei was in the middle of a battle with a skeleton with four arms, and he wasn't looking so well.

Cole started to go forward to help, but again I stopped him. "This is Sensei's fight," I told him quietly.

We were forced to sit and watch as Samukai knocked down Sensei and took his weapon, leaving him injured on the floor.

All of us stood frozen in the door way.

"Excellent," Garmadon hissed from somewhere in the back of the room. "Bring the weapons to me."

Samukai looked at the five weapons in his hand, and then said, "No. I will rule now." As soon as those words left his mouth, the weapons began to shake in his hands. "What's going on?" he asked, panicking.

Garmadon gave a hiss of laughter. "You fool! You think I wouldn't think of your betrayal? I was counting on it! United, the weapons will create a portal across space and time, to a place that will enable me to possess all the weapons at once!"

With a pop, Samukai disappeared, and a familiar swirling purple portal opened up. Garmadon started towards it, but paused when he heard Sensei say, "Father would not want you to do this, brother."

He turned to look at us. "Father is gone. You were always his favorite." Then he saw Lia and hesitated, before saying, "No matter how much you hate me, my little Lialily, I will always love you."

With those final words, he disappeared into the portal, and the mass of purple energy vanished. He had left the golden weapons on the floor. Sensei Wu stood up and dusted himself off.

"He is gone, but he will return." He said simply. My team and I walked forward to pick up our individual weapons. I surveyed my team: Cole, the leader, strong, master of Earth, controller of the Scythe of Quakes; Jay, the humor, friendly, master of Lightning, wielder of the Nun chucks of Lighting; Zane, the brains, controlled, master of Ice, seer with sixth sense and master of the Shurikens of Ice; and Liana, the heart and glue, compassionate, master of Wind and wielder of the Tessens of Wind.

And me: Kai, the temper, bold, master of Fire, and master of the Sword of Fire.

There wasn't any other team that I would like to have more by my side.

Nya's POV

I sighed. It had been three days since Kai left to go fight Garmadon. I wondered how he was doing.

It had taken me a day and a half to make it back to the shop, and I had found it in utter turmoil. After sleeping the day away (being a prisoner of a skeleton army can really wear a girl out), I had spent all of today cleaning. I wasn't even halfway down.

Suddenly, I heard a commotion outside. I looked to see the rice workers running in from the fields and heard the familiar _thump thump thump _of a dragon's wing beat. I ran outside in time to see the ninja landing in my front yard. I heaved a great sigh of relief; all of them looked all right.

Lia was the first one to dismount. She sprinted towards me, and I met her halfway. Soon we were laughing and crying and hugging all at the same time. Man, I had missed my best friend!

Soon Kai was here and stealing me away; he gave me a bone-crushing before pulling back to make sure I was okay.

Not one to be left out, the one in blue, I think his name is Jay, ran forward and said, "My turn!" I giggled as I gave him a hug. I liked him; he was funny.

I looked at the gathered team. They sure were impressive to see, with their mighty dragons and glistening gold weapons. "I am so glad you guys are okay!" I gushed.

Kai's expression hardened slightly. "Yeah, but so is Garmadon. And he will return."

A hush spread throughout the gathered crowd. Then Lia broke it, saying, "But when he does, we will be ready."Cheering spread throughout the crowd. I watched as my best friend hugged the ninja in black, Cole. Soon, he pulled back slightly and kissed her lightly on the lips. This elicited even more cheering. I joined in. I was happy for my friend.

Cole's POV

I continued to kiss Lia as the crowd went nuts. I felt her smile against my lips.

I pulled back just enough to say, "You know, I believe that you owe me a date."

She gave a tinkling laugh, then pressed her lips to mine once more.

**So, how do you think I did with the first season? Good, bad, best first fanfic you ever read? ;)**

**But really, be totally and completely honest with me!**

**Thank you! I love all of you readers!**

**~Boogalee**


	16. Chapter 16

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**A/N: So, here's the part that I am sure a lot of hormonally charged girls have been waiting for…**

**Lia and Cole's first date!**

**A warning, though. I am 14, and thus have never gone on a date. It may seem a little strange…**

**Oh well! Hope the romantics have fun reading this!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 16

Liana's POV

Nya and I were playing Yahtzee in her room when Cole poked his head in. It had been a month since we had retrieved all of the weapons, and I was seriously enjoying having another girl around the place. Don't get me wrong, I love the guys, it's just that all the fart noises and belching and video games and food fights get a little old after a while.

I rolled six sixes. "Yahtzee!" I yelled out. Man, I was creaming Nya.

Cole cleared his throat uncomfortably. I looked to the doorway, where he was standing nervously.

"Hey Cole," Nya and I said together. We giggled.

Cole blushed beet red. "Um, Lia?" he asked kinda timidly.

"Um, yeah?" Why was he acting so shy?

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to go out with me tonight?" His voice kinda tampered off towards the end. So that was why he was so nervous! He was asking me out!

His shyness made me grin. "Sure, I'd love to!" That wasn't just a charity reply; I really did want to go out with him.

He sighed in relief. "Great!" He turned to leave the room.

"Cole?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"What do you want to do?"

His blush deepened. "Hadn't really thought of that. Maybe dinner at a nice restaurant?" Awe, he was so cute when he was nervous! I gave him a slight smile to ease his nerves.

"Sounds great!"

Again he appeared relieved. He glanced at the clock on the wall. "How about we leave around 7:30?'

My turn to look at the clock. It was 4:30 right now. Hmm, it might be a stretch, but I think I can get ready for a nice dinner in 3 hours. "Sounds like a plan."

Some of the blush left his face. "Great! See at the front door at 7:30!"

With that, he raced off.

Nya sighed. "You are so lucky! I wish Jay would just pluck up the courage and ask me out all ready."

I sighed too. "Poor babies! Did you notice how nervous Cole was? We must scare them bad!"

Nya giggled. She stood and brushed the dirt off her clothes. She extended her hand to me. "Come on. We have a date to get you ready for!"

Cole's POV

I didn't stop running until I was back in the video game room. I slammed the door behind me and sank to the floor. I was such an idiot!

Jay glanced at me. "What happened to you?" he asked curiously.

It took me a bit to catch my breath. "I just asked Lia out."

Jay paused the game. Zane, Kai, and Jay all stared at me.

Finally, Zane broke the silence. "I was not aware that talking to a girl caused so much fear and anxiety." He seemed very putout and confused.

Jay gave a bitter smirk. "Speak for yourself! I wish I had the courage to ask Nya out." He turned to me. "So, what did she say, what are you planning to do, and at what time?"

I gave a sigh of relief. My wingmen were here to back me up. "She was really nice and said yes, even seemed excited. We are going to a nice dinner and are meeting at 7:30." I glanced unwillingly at the clock. 4:45.

Jay looked at the clock too. "Well then, we have no time to waste." He hauled me to my feet and helped me to get ready for my date.

Liana's POV

7:25, and I was already waiting for Cole. I fidgeted with the short dress Nya had insisted I wear.

She had me outfitted in a beautiful blue dress that had a fitted bodice and a flowing shirt that ended just above my knees. It started out a light sky blue at the shoulders before darkening down to an almost black at the bottom. Its small cap sleeves prevented my arms from moving freely. It was a big change from my usual outfit. When I wasn't in my teal gi, I was lounging around in sweats and an old logo t-shirt. Formal clothes make me uncomfortable.

To top of the dress, Nya had me cram my feet into white, four-inch heels, and had me holding a small pure white shoulder bag with necessities such as a tampon, nail clippers, hem tape, sewing kit, and spare dagger. Finally, she had sat me down with me facing away from the mirror and had down my hair and makeup.

She had pulled the hair back from around my face with a waterfall braid on each side that met at the back of my head and melded into one long braid that ended just before the rest of my hair, around my waist. After she had done that, she had curled it, so that it fell in really loose ringlets.

Once done with my hair, she started on the scary stuff. Mascara, eyeliner, foundation, blush, and tons of things I didn't know the name of.

Next to spiders, I figured my greatest fear was the eyelash curler.

Finally, she had pronounced me "perfect", spun me around, and pushed me out the door. She didn't even let me see the mirror, so I had no idea what I looked like.

Thus, I stood uncomfortable in my formal wear when I saw Cole walking up with a small bouquet of flowers in his hand.

Cole's POV

I tugged at the teal tie around my neck nervously.

Thank goodness my dad had made me pack my suit.

I surveyed myself in the mirror. I guess I looked okay. I had combed my hair and put on a suit; was I missing anything?

Jay chose that moment to walk in. He shook his head in disappointment. He had spent all afternoon teaching me the proper date etiquette. Open doors for her, wait for her to take the first bite, always smile, let her talk about herself if she wants to, offer sincere compliments, and always, _always_ be myself. "I thought I had taught you well! You don't have flowers for her!" I mentally face-palmed. I knew I was missing something!

Seeing my expression, Jay laughed. "But luckily," he continued, "I assumed you would and got you these!" From behind his back he produced a small bouquet, full of red roses and having a white lily, striped with midnight blue. "Tell her that she is like the lily; different from everyone else, but still beautiful in her own way."

Oh my goodness, I am so lucky to have Jay as a friend. "Oh my freaking goodness, thank you so much! You are the best blue ninja named Jay ever!" Before he could completely work through what I had said, I took the flowers and rushed out the door.

Liana's POV

Cole cleaned up nicely.

I mean, he always looked handsome, but now he was just drop dead gorgeous!

His clean cut suit helped to accentuate his strong jaw line and cheek bone. The teal in his tie brought out the small specks of gold in his warm, melted chocolate eyes. His ebony hair was swept to the side in its usual style, but, if possible, it looked even better now.

I didn't bother to suppress my grin as I hooked my arm through his and said, "Let's hit the road."

Cole's POV

How was it possible that Lia wanted to go out with me?

I must have done something right when I was younger to make me fall in love with someone as beautiful and as smart as Liana Garmadon.

That's right.

I love her.

No point in trying to deny it, when it is so obvious now that the only way I could cement it stronger would be to tell her, and I wasn't sure if I was ready for that.

Still, she was beautiful. Her dress accentuated her trim figure, and her hair falling in loose ringlets down her back only helped to highlight the fact. The way her hair was pulled back from her forehead made it so that her face was framed nicely. The blue in her dress brought attention to her amazing eyes. Only thing was, she had a bobby pin holding back the small bangs on the right side of her face that wouldn't stay in the braid. I reached over and tugged it out.

She looked at me curiously. I only offered a soft smile and a soft word. "Perfect."

We walked in companionable silence down to Jamanikai Village. It wasn't the kind of uncomfortable silence where you're both searching for things to say, nor was it the kind of silence that only comes after a fight.

This was the kind of silence where we were both thinking our own thoughts and were completely content just to be in the other's company.

The best kind of silence.

Liana's POV

It was a pleasant night.

Families were out strolling, couples were having fun, and kids were racing around the streets.

I sighed and leaned closer to Cole, resting my head on his shoulder, our arms still linked. "Cole?" I asked blissfully.

"Hmm?" was his reply. He also was just enjoying the night.

"Can we never leave?"

He gave a soft chuckle. I suddenly realized that he was still holding my flowers. Apparently he did too, because he handed them to me. I didn't even look at them. "Come on, Lia. We have a reservation."

~oOo~

He led me to a quiet out of the way place. I didn't say anything as he walked up to the host and told him his name. Nodding silently, the man slipped away and Cole walked back to me.

I couldn't stand it any longer. "Why are you being so secretive?" He chuckled again, before grabbing my hand and pulling me over to a bench where we could wait. He sat me down beside him.

"It's a surprise," he said. Giving a slight hum in response, I only flipped his hand over and began tracing all of the lines and crevices. Cole silently watched me.

Finally the host returned. With a silent nod to Cole, he walked away. Cole stood up. I stood up as well. I giggled when he picked me up bridal style. "Close your eyes," he ordered gently. With more giggles, I did as I was told, and I felt him moving.

I didn't know what it was going to be, but already I could sense that this was going to be the best surprise of my life.

Cole's POV

I smiled down at Lia, even though she couldn't see me. She looked beautiful, curled up in her blue dress, her bouquet of flowers clutched against her chest. She fit just right against me.

I began to move up the stairs. Lia only began to hum a song. That brought on another smile.

I couldn't be any more in love with her.

Liana's POV

Something felt right about being in Cole's arms.

It took me awhile to name it, but finally I realized what it was.

Being in his arms felt like coming home.

I began to feel upward movement. Was he carrying me upstairs?

"Are we there yet?" I asked, purposely making my voice sound like a 3-year-old's.

He laughed. "Almost," he said, soundly like the out-of-patience parent.

I laughed too.

As we laughed, I realized something.

I was in love with him.

I giggled harder; it was every girl's dream.

I was in love with Cole Blacksmith.

Cole's POV

Lia's musical laugh echoed around us as I finally reached to top of the stairs. I looked down at Lia.

"Now, no peaking. We're here, but I will tell you when it's okay to look. I'm going to set you down now."

She smiled. "Okey dokey!" I laughed and carefully set her on the floor. True to her word, she kept her eyes closed. I grabbed her shoulders and steered her through the door.

"Okay, you can look!"

Her gasp of amazement made my heart skip a beat.

Liana's POV

I can't believe that he did something like this for me!

We stood on the roof top of the tallest building in Jamanikai Village. Everywhere I looked, I could see the glistening lights of the city. Scattered around the roof, dim colored lanterns cast an ethereal glow on the scene. The entire roof top was covered with flowers and vines of all shapes and colors. In the middle of it all, nestled among the night lilies, a small, candle-lit table for two stood waiting.

I gaped at Cole. "You did all of this?"

He grinned bashfully. "Yeah. Do you like it?" He seemed nervous.

"I don't like it." His face fell. "I love it!" I twirled around. "No one has ever done anything this nice for me before!" His face became tinted with red.

"Well, then, you can't have been hanging around very many decent people."

I laughed. Cole is one of the most wonderful and kind human beings on the planet.

Cole's POV

The dim light from the lanterns and stars made Lia look like an elf queen in her garden. Compared to her, I felt like a troll.

She twirled over to the table and set her flowers in the empty vase. She looked at them for the first time. "Why is one different?" she asked curiously.

I walked up to her and subconsciously put my arm around her waist. "The lily is you," I said carefully. "You are different from everyone else, but you are still your own kind of beautiful."

She stared at the midnight blue streaked lily, and then tackled me in a hug. I was startled to feel moisture from where her head was nestled against my neck. Jeez, did I make her cry? "Thank you!" she mumbled into me. "That was, without a doubt, the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

Liana's POV

Once I got over my emotions, we actually had a pretty normal dinner. We laughed and talked and made fun of Jay.

It was all pretty standard. The trouble only started when we left.

When we exited the building, Cole had his arm wrapped around my shoulder and was leaning heavily on me. He was busting a gut laughing at the joke I had told him about our favorite genius, Jay.

He wiped the tears out of his eyes. He was still gasping. "Lia, that was brilliant!" I felt my pride swell with his praise. Suddenly, I heard a female voice off to my left.

"Hey, hot stuff! Why don't you dump scruffy there and come hand out with us?" Three trashy girls walked out of the alley. They looked drunk.

"Yeah, we could show you a real good time," one of her buddies added seductively.

I tugged on Cole's arm. "We should go," I said.

The third one cackled meanly. "Why would he want to go with you? The only thing uglier than you is a horse's a**."

I heard Cole gasp at the comment, but I didn't see his reaction.

I was too busy running away.

Cole's POV

Ignoring the drunken girls to my left, I picked up Lia's bouquet from where she had dropped it.

All of the roses were crushed, but the lily still was perfect.

I picked it out and ran after her.

Liana's POV

I was sobbing in on a park bench when Cole found me.

What that girl had said really struck home. I wasn't pretty and Cole was gorgeous. I didn't deserve him. My sobs came harder.

Suddenly, I heard his soothing voice in front of me. "Hey."

He was kneeling in front of me. "How were they able to hurt you so bad?" He seemed genuinely concerned.

"They were right," I whispered. "I'm not pretty, and you are the most handsome and caring man alive; I don't deserve you." If possible, I sobbed even harder.

Cole took one of my hands. "You know what I see when I look at you?" He didn't wait for my reply. "I see a girl who is confident; someone who doesn't let anyone, not even destiny, tell her what to do.

"I see a girl who is brave; someone who puts herself in danger to protect even those that she dislikes.

"I see a girl who is compassionate; someone who can always find something good in others.

"I see a girl that I love."

I put the lily in her hand.

"I see a lily."

My sobbing stopped.

I crushed my lips to his.

"I love you too."

**So what did you think? I hoped you liked it, because I sincerely enjoyed writing it.**

**Also, a tip for any male readers. If you do those things that Jay taught Cole about, the good manners, then any girl you go out with will fall head over heels for you.**

**It also occurs to me that I forgot the thank yous: thanks to QueenOfNinjago, KaitouKiwi, Guest, mykindleisawesome, ForeverDreamer12, Frosti1212, ZaneLoverFan88, MoonOfMoons and, by extent, Moon's cousin, Gracie, for their absolutely fantastic reviews. Thanks guys! That makes 70 reviews! You rock!**

**Also, there is a poll on my profile for a name for a new OC. I can't tell you anything about her yet, because that would be a spoiler, but please vote.**

**Once again, thanks!**

**~Boogalee**


	17. Chapter 17

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Lia: Hey guys, I'm back! Did ya miss me?**

**Me: *groans* Look Lia, school starts tomorrow and it is already kinda late. Let's just get on with the story.**

**Cole: *looks pointedly at me* What she means is thank you to MoonOfMoons (and Gracie), mykindleisawesome, 8xBL, and KaitouKiwi for their fantastic reviews, as usual! You know, she don't think I have gotten one negative review! You guys rock!**

**Me: *yawns* Basketball at 7 tomorrow morning…**

**Jay: *rolls his eyes* Whatever. She doesn't own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 17

Sensei Wu's POV

My meditating was interrupted by some obnoxious yelling.

"Fire attack!"

"Stop trying to do it on your own, we're a team!"

"Was that the best move you've ever seen or what?"

"Zane! Stop using your special attack on me! You need to save it!"

"Ah man! I'm out of lives!"

"Hey, I'm getting the hang of it!"

Groaning, I pulled myself onto my feet. Best to see what the boys were doing before they broke something.

Sliding back the door, I was surprised to see that only Liana was in the training course. She was breathing heavily and had her Tessens open in her hands. "Good morning, Liana," I called pleasantly. "Have you broken your 5K time yet?"

She shook her head. "24 minutes 18 seconds is pretty hard to beat. On the bright side, I did discover something cool with my Tessens." To demonstrate, she flipped high into the air, and, with a bright flach, was suddenly in a teal fighter jet. She flew an almost silent lap around the monastery before jumping out, the plane disappearing, with her golden weapons flashing in her hands. I smiled.

"Well done, Lia." Okay, something just occurred to me. "Um, how did you find out that they did that?"

She blushed. "I was, um, sitting on the roof thinking, when I lost my balance and fell. I somehow twisted in midair and was suddenly in the most awesome fighter jet ever!"

My smile widened. "Very creative. Now, like usual, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell the boys. They need to figure this stuff out on their own."

She flashed a cocky smile before nodding and tucking her Tessens into her belt. "Of course, Sensei. Speaking of which, are the boys ever going to come out and train again? I haven't seen them out here in ages."

My smile faded. "My dear, that's what I am trying to do." Following the sounds of yelling and grunting, I arrived at the boys' video game room.

Jay's POV

I have officially decided that Zane is the worst gamer ever.

He took me out, and I was on his team.

I sighed, bored, while I waited for the rest to finish up. Suddenly, the screen went black.

"Ah man!"

"It took us three hours to get that far!"

"Do you know how hard it was to earn up the points for that move?"

"Enough!" Man, Sensei sounded really gross. "Just because Lord Garmadon disappeared through a vortex does not mean that he won't return one day for the golden weapons of spinjitsu!"

"But Sensei Wu, ever since he has been gone, Ninjago has had nothing but peace," Zane said reasonably.

"Yeah, peace is boring," I ranted. "There is nothing to do, and no one to fight."

"We can train tomorrow," Cole said lazily.

Sensei's expression was cold. "Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today."

"Well, I was gonna eat this pizza tomorrow-"

Sensei kicked the pizza out of Cole's hand. "No pizza for you! In order for you to reach your full potential, you must train!"

"Uh, remember when we did this little thing called the Tornado of Creation? I thought that was pretty awesome," Kai replied arrogantly.

"You four have merely scratched the surface of your full potential, not to mention the power of your weapons. Liana is doing far better than you. In fact, I bet she could beat any of you in sparring right now with both hands tied behind her back."

"Bragging about me? How sweet." Lia suddenly came into the room. "However, we have more important things. Not many, but one. Lord Garmadon was seen in Jamanikai Village. They need our help, pronto."

The boys all stood up and immediately fell over, have tripped on one another. Liana rolled her eyes. "See you there!" she called, before sprinting out the door. By the time I got there, Lia was gone.

Cole's POV

I huffed as we raced down the cliff to the dragons' kennel.

Maybe Sensei was right. We were out of shape.

I noticed that Lia's gray dragon, Gust, was still in her kennel. How was she getting there?

We really were a mess. Zane banged his head on the door, Jay completely flipped over his dragon Whisp, Kai couldn't reach his reigns, and I dropped my Scythe. I groaned. When we got back, I was training double time.

We finally managed to get everyone into the air. "Last one there cleans out the kennels!" Jay called. Soon, we were racing off towards Jamanikai Village.

Liana's POV

I tapped my foot impatiently. How long does it take four stinking ninja to get here?

I had already checked out the situation. Nothing super dangerous. Just some dumb kid playing pranks.

Finally, I saw four dragons in the distance. They plummeted to the cliff. I rolled my eyes when I heard what their riders were saying.

"I was here first!"

"No, I was!"

"My feet were on the ground first!"

"Quiet!" I yelled. They all fell silent and looked at me. "I was here first, now get off your high horses and follow me already." That startled them.

Cole tried to ask, "But Lia, how on earth did you get here? Your dragon was still in its kennel."

I didn't bother to answer.

I lead them down a back alley and held in a laugh when I saw that they seriously thought they were going to face Lord Garmadon. They should have noticed that I wasn't worried. I was a little hurt. I thought they knew by now to trust my instincts.

They all got into battle stance as a tall, menacing shadow was cast on the wall opposite us. I didn't even bother to draw my Tessens. Something about the figure's laugh was oddly familiar. I gasped when I realized why. I started running out of the alley.

"Lia, what the heck are you doing?" I heard Kai ask from behind me. I slid to a stop in front of the child sized figure that had cast the shadow.

"LLOYD MONTGOMERY GARMADON! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

Lloyd's POV

To say I was having a good time would be an understatement.

I had actually managed to make the entire village think I was Lord Garmadon. I was a little proud of myself. All that was left now was the candy.

Hmmm, candy.

I was about to get some when I heard a voice from my past yelling at me.

"LLOYD MONTGOMERY GARMADON! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

I cringed; how had Lia found me? I haven't seen her in five years.

Even though her head was covered with a teal ninja hood, I would have known her anywhere.

Wait, since when had my sister been a ninja?

Too late, I realized that I should probably run away.

I was about to scamper when a pair of black clothed arms closed around me and held me tightly in place.

Kai's POV

I looked at the pipsqueak that was struggling in Cole's arms. Despite not having trained in a while, Cole was still easily stronger than him.

He was probably around 11. The only similarities between him and Lia were the clear blue eyes and freckles. Other than that, they didn't look anything alike. Lloyd's hair was a paler shade of blonde and his features were strong, unlike Liana's delicate ones.

I could not believe that short stack here was Lia's kid brother.

I walked over and looked him in the eye. "Looks like someone escaped their boarding school for bad boys again," Jay commented.

I looked at my team. "What should we do with him? Spank him?" I wondered aloud.

Lia's face was determined. "I have a better idea." She walked directly up to him. "Hold him tight, Cole," she ordered. Then she leaned down and gave him a big, slobbery kiss on the cheek.

The gathered crowd laughed, as did the rest of the ninja and I, was we watched Lloyd try to wipe it off of his face. "Yuck!" he complained.

Lia grabbed him by his ear and took him from Cole. "I am going to take you straight to our foster home, young man!" she told Lloyd. He whimpered.

"But I don't want to go to the Snippers!" he whined.

Lia ignored him and tugged him out of Jamanikai Village.

Liana's POV

I was fuming.

I had spent my entire life before I met the ninja trying to help Lloyd do the right thing, and then he goes and tries to rob a village of its candy!

I held onto my brother tightly and flipped into my jet. Lloyd was sitting right next to me and staring at me in awe. "How did you do that, Sis?" he asked.

His tone softened my mood. "Magic," I told him, then smiled at his disbelieving look. I changed the subject. "So, when did you get kicked out of Darkly's?"

"How did you know?"

I laughed. "Lloyd, it's the middle of the school year! Even a boarding school for bad boys wouldn't let you out alone."

He sighed. "Got me there. They said I was too nice. It was about a month ago."

He had been on his own for a month? I was about to voice my question when he asked me, "So had did you become a ninja?"

Well, this was a topic I was good with. "I was hanging out with Nya, remember her?" I waited for him to nod before moving on. "Well, some skeletons attacked and kidnapped her. Then an old man showed up and offered to train me to become a ninja so I could save her."

His face was seriously full to bursting with awe. "No way!" He paused, then said, "Anything interesting going on in your love life?"

I was shocked that he dared to ask that. "Lloyd, you are eleven years old! Why would you ask that?"

"You're my sister. I want to make sure that no one hurts you." Aw, that was sweet.

"There is nothing interesting in my love life, thank you very much!" I felt a heat rising in my cheeks.

"I see that blush. Come on, tell me!" Gah, I'm just gonna tell him.

"I am currently dating Cole, the black ninja, master of earth." I sighed. Why had I told him that?

"Really? The buff one?" Okay, that deserved a laugh.

"Yes, the buff one." We had finally arrived at the Snippers. I popped open the top of the jet and lowered it to the ground. Lloyd hopped out.

"Careful Lloyd." He looked back and smiled.

"Love you, Lia."

He ran into the house.

I flew back to the monastery, careful to get out of my jet when I was just within eyesight.

**Tell me how I did!**

**I changed the cover to one I drew myself. Tell me what you think!**

**Also, please vote on my poll. Only two people have voted! And while they rock, it means that I am stuck between names. Help me out please!**

**On a side note, if you have any favorite songs that you would like to see in here, let me know!**

**Review, review, review, please!**

**~Boogalee**


	18. Chapter 18

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Jay: Hi! Hello! Hola! Greetings! Salutations!**

**Me: *groans* Who gave Jay the extra sugar?**

**Lia: *giggles nervously* Do you put two cups or two bags of chocolate chips in the cookies?**

**Cole: Seriously? You put in two whole bags of… Never mind. Okay, so, you guys, the readers, are freaking awesome! We got 10 whole reviews on chapter 17!**

**Jay: From MoonOfMoons/Gracie and Frosti1212 and Bunnyman4 and KaitouKiwi and mykindleisawesome and 4nn4 and Nya909 and ForeverDreamer12 and ZaneLoverFan88 and Rosie Silver! *starts singing **_**Silver Bells**_*****

**Cole: *tackles Jay* Get on with the story so that we can escape this cruel and unusual punishment already!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot! I do not own "Family Tree" by Matthew West either.**

Chapter 18

Lloyd's POV

I watched as my sister's teal jet thundered away into the distance. My smile slowly melted into its typical frown as I was once again left by my family. My body tightened as it felt the four most consuming emotions of all time weave their way in, spreading ice and fire everywhere they hit.

Jealousy.

Bitterness.

Anger.

Regret.

I sighed. I was all too familiar with them.

_Jealousy, my first memory. Dad is training Lia, instructing her for hours on how to properly manipulate a katana, while the most he gives me is a passing glance at the dinner table._

_Bitterness, one that is echoed deep within me. Mother left, before I ever got to see her. I don't even know her name, and I hate her for it._

_Anger, one that has permeated my soul almost every day of my life, but today, directed towards a specific group of people, or, rather, a single person. It is directed at me as well._

_Regret, the knowledge that if I had just trusted Lia, none of this would be happening right now._

I thought back to the look on my sister's face when she talked about the earth ninja. It held more dreams, more compassion, more _love_ than I would have thought humanly possible.

She had never looked at me with that expression.

The anger within me bubbled stronger. Lia had finally found me, but, just as soon, she was gone. She had been stolen from me.

The ninja had taken my sister away from me.

I would have to steal her back.

My mind shot back to the scary stories my father told me to try to get me to stay inside. A maniacal grin spread across my face as I came across the perfect weapon.

I would find the Serpentine.

Kai's POV

Lia had already taken off with Lloyd, leaving us, meaning the boys, to head back to the monastery. When I was mounting Flame, I accidentally kicked the saddle bag that I had strapped on. I knocked a scroll out of it. Funny, I don't remember putting a scroll in it. Maybe a sweet or two, but not a scroll.

Zane came over to check it out. He looked at the bag that I had kicked. "That's Sensei's bag," he said slowly, "You must have grabbed it in your haste to leave." I unfurled it. It looked like a mouse had stepped in ink and had run across the page.

"It's written in chicken scratch." Zane came around to look at the writing.

"It is not chicken scratch. It is the ancient language of our ancestors," he said carefully.

"Can you read it?" Jay asked, drawn over by the commotion.

"I can try," Zane replied, though he looked doubtful.

"'One ninja will rise above the rest to become the green ninja. He will have the power to overcome the darkness.'"

"Oh, look, a picture!" Jay crowed. "Wait, is that us?"

Illustrated in four corners around the legendary green ninja were four smaller ninja. They were wearing red, white, blue, and black.

"There is more," Zane continued.

"'He will be the strength of all things constant in their nature, the Yang in a scale of balance, representing things that are bright, masculine, and fiery. He will have a partner, the purple ninja, who will have the strength of all things that change. She-'"

"Wait, did you say 'she'" Jay asked, confused.

"The scroll clearly states that the purple ninja is, in fact, a she." He looked at each of them in turn. "Would you like for me to continue?" He waited for them to nod their affirmative before continuing on.

"She will represent things that are soft and gentle, yet necessary for survival, such as mercy and creativity. She is the female moon aspect of the Yin-Yang, the Yin."

The ninja's expectant faces fell. "That's it?" I asked, kind of let down that that was all the mystery scroll said. Zane simply nodded.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Jay asked.

"Like how good I am going to look in green?" I replied.

"Um, I think I am the green ninja," Jay contradicted.

"I am clearly the most skilled out of all of us," Zane disagreed.

"Enough!" Cole roared from behind us. "It's pretty evident that Sensei did not want us to see this scroll. We are a team, and it is time we start acting like one." He went and mounted Rocky, taking off in the direction of the monastery. As the rest of my team did the same, I had only one thought in my mind.

Could I be the green ninja?

Liana's POV

I sighed. Even with dropping Lloyd off at our foster home, I had still arrived before the boys.

I decided to use the time to climb.

I had always loved mountain climbing. There was something magical about holding on with all your might to something so much larger than you. It makes you realize just how insignificant you really are, just an ant in this giant world of ours.

I reached a ledge that over looked Ninjago. I could see the spattering of different little towns spreading out in all directions. I could see the people laboring on the rice farms, the children laughing as they played ball, and the animals springing back and forth when they thought no one was watching. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, feeling the gentle breeze tugging my hair away from my forehead.

I suddenly had a thought. I was the ninja of wind, wasn't I? Doesn't that mean I should control the wind?

I decided to try. Gently, tentatively, I pushed my thoughts out to it. Peace entered my body as I felt the wind meld with my mind.

It had a voice.

Not one with words, but one with feelings and sounds.

I could feel its happiness and see a new born girl in her father's arms.

I could feel its sadness and see a family lay to rest a favorite aunt.

I could feel its anxiety and see four ninja arguing and riding on the backs of dragons.

I sighed. My peace never lasted long.

I had a sudden feeling to take out my Tessens. On instinct, I used them to mold the air. My long, flowing movements created air currents around me. I grinned as those air currents lifted me away from the mountain and sent me soaring to the monastery.

Jay's POV

We could not stop arguing the entire way back to the monastery. We all thought that we had the skill it would take to be the green ninja. We all disagreed with one another. Finally, we all agreed on a tournament.

Best ninja wins and earns the title of the green ninja.

We all carefully put up our dragons and walked into the monastery, when we heard grunting coming from the training ground.

I banged to doors open just in time to see Nya get hit by the dummy and go flying. I walked over to help her up. "H-hey N-n-nya, any closer to beating your brother's speed record?" I hauled her to her feet.

She grinned. "Almost," she said. "Kai's going down!" I gave her a small smile.

Kai walked up behind me. "Sorry sis, we're going to need the training course for a while."

She gave him a tight lipped smile. "Okay, I guess I will go down to Jamanikai Village, since it was a false alarm." We looked at her, surprised. How had she known that it was a false alarm?

She looked at our faces and laughed. "Lia got back about 20 minutes ago." Seeing Cole's questioning look, she added, "She went for a climb." He nodded, placated. Nya headed out of the open front door, waving good bye over her shoulder as she went.

Cole walked over to where the armor was hidden. Taking out one of the two pairs, he nailed me in the chest with it and handed the other one to Kai. As I was recovering, he started to explain the rules. "All right boys. Two two-man matches, then the winners face off for the championship. Armor's for our own protection."

Soon, Kai and I were ready in combat positions in a circle that was carved into the ground. Cole signaled the start of the match, and Kai immediately attacked, swinging low with his sword. I blocked the swipe and used my momentum to launch the other end of my nun chucks towards his shoulder. He blocked this, and we bother backed up, getting a sense of each other's skills.

I decided to try something new. Sensei had told us to unlock our golden weapons, and on a hunch I started swinging mine nun chucks around my head.

Partial success. I managed to shock myself, not the intended target. Unfortunately, Kai had complete success and his small blast of fire knocked me out of the inscribed ring, disqualifying me from the competition. Stupid fire.

Zane's POV

I would be facing Cole in the preliminaries. This would be a tough match.

We stepped into the circle, and I could barely see his face through the mask that he had on. As a tester, I threw one of my shurikens at him. He easily dodged out of the way and sent a return volley with his scythe, aiming a high cut that would have taken out my throwing arm if I had not jumped back at the last second. My shuriken returned to my hand and I changed my strategy.

I activated the ice powers of one of the shurikens and threw it at his feet. He seemed perplexed when it landed in front of him and rested his foot on it. Perfect. I began to run towards him. He looked startled at my aggression until he realized that his feet were frozen to the ground beneath him. He looked furious. Soon we were fighting, me with my one shuriken and Cole with his Scythe. I was distracted, however, by the sound of an engine nearing the monastery. Cole took advantage of the slight distraction and swiped his scythe at my feet, taking them out from under me. I growled when he held the point to my chest.

Lloyd's POV

I can't stand blizzards. One minute, I was just walking around in a snowy field, trying to find the Serpentine to help me punish the ninja, the next I am bumbling about in a snow storm.

"Stupid ninja," I muttered. "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be out here in the first place."

My incessant monologue stopped as I kicked something metal. Sweeping some of the snow off of it, a wry smile began to touch my face. The tomb of the Hypnobrai, perfect. Triggering the openly latch, I slid inside the tomb.

Kai's POV

Time for me and Cole to face off. We entered the ring and waited for Jay to signal the start of the match.

He sighed. "For the title of best ninja of them all, blah blah blah, Ninja go," he muttered bitterly.

Cole swung his scythe at me and I quickly blocked it, returning with a back hand swing at his exposed right side. He used his momentum to carry him away from my sword, and we both staggered away, off balance.

I considered Cole. We were both pretty evenly matched physically. I guess that I had better try to use my sword.

I tried to summon my fire.

Something went wrong in the process.

My sword began to shake. It was heated up to the point where I couldn't stand to hold it. I dropped it, trying to save some skin on my scalded hands.

Bad idea.

Flames erupted from where the fallen sword lay.

Liana's POV

I should have known better than to leave the boys alone that long.

Just my luck that they managed to set the monastery on fire.

Kai had probably done something stupid with his Sword of Fire.

Whenever something goes wrong, it is always Kai's fault.

Sensei's POV

I blinked as the spirit smoke displayed scenes of chaos.

Blue and white skinned snake men roamed around a village, stealing all of the candy.

They needed the help of the ninja.

I ran outside and discovered that they needed my help first. The boys, being the complete idiots that they were, had managed to light the monastery on fire and were trying to put it out desperately.

I picked up the Shurikens of Ice from where Zane had left them and sent them flying around the training ground, layering the entire area in a thin layer of frost. It put out all of the fires, including the one on Jay's butt that had been causing him to hop around like a one legged poodle.

They all turned to me. I saw Liana sprinting towards us. She had probably seen the flames. No matter, they were out now. But the flames in my eyes had not yet died.

"What were you thinking?"

"We were trying to figure out which one of us was the green ninja," Jay answered, earning himself a slap on the head from Zane.

I sighed. "You were not meant to see this yet. We will have much to discuss. For the time being, however, Jamanikai Village is in need of our help."

"But Sensei, we were just there," Cole said perplexed.

"I just had a vision in the spirit smoke."

Kai's eyes suddenly widened. "Nya! She's in Jamanikai Village!"

Immediately, all of the ninja flipped into action. I watched Lia. With her best friend's life at stake, she didn't bother to conceal her jet. She flipped up once and was off.

The boys paused to watch for a moment then shook their heads; they had no time for this.

They needed to save Nya.

Lloyd's POV

As I slid into the Hypnobrai tomb, I hear a rattling behind me. I turned to see a massive snake with a human's body. Its eyes were whirling red.

"I will control you," it said, staring me down. I began to back away.

"I will control you," it said once more. It was trying to hypnotize me!

Suddenly my foot slipped on some ice and the snake was left staring at his own reflection. He stopped, mesmerized.

"No, I will control you," I tried to say assertively.

He bowed his head submissively. "What will you have us do, Master?" From around the cavern, Serpentine of all sizes emerged. My own army!

"To Jamanikai Village."

Liana's POV

I arrived at Jamanikai Village way ahead of the boys, but I didn't care. I just had to make sure that Nya was alright.

I quickly flipped across the roof tops and did a survey of the town. The Serpentine that were attacking were from the Hypnobrai tribe, and they were hypnotizing the villagers as they went. So far, I hadn't seen a single soul that wasn't under their spell.

I spotted movement in an alley way. I flipped over and saw that it was Nya, hiding behind a bunch of trash cans. I landed silently behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped about three feet in the air before realizing that it was me that had tapped her.

"What happened?" I mouthed.

"Someone realized the Serpentine!" she hissed, "and they set them on the village." Carefully, she pointed out the largest snake man, the one who was carrying a golden staff. "If we get that staff, it has the anti venom in it." I nodded to show that I understood.

With the explanation out of the way, Nya and I sat quietly, waiting for the rest of the ninja.

Lloyd's POV

What was taking the ninja so long? They should have rushed over here to help these people already.

Oh, never mind. Just saw them flipping across the roof. I looked at all the candy that we had gathered. I am never coming down from this sugar high, I thought happily. Suddenly the ninja landed in the middle of the street. Before they could get a good look at me, I yelled, "Get them!"

My entire snake army went to capture them.

Zane's POV

We were surrounded. People and snakes were coming at us from every angle.

Jay started to charge up his golden weapon, but I reached out to grab his wrist. "Don't! Our weapons are too unstable. We will do more harm than good."

He stared at me. "I guess our only option is to run."

He led us over the rooftops and down into an alley. We were surprised to see that we weren't alone.

"There you are!" Lia said, rolling her eyes. "I was wondering what was taking so long." I ignored her.

"Nya!" Kai cried. "You're alright!" She shushed him.

"See that snake with the staff?" she whispered. "It had the anti venom. We need it to heal the villagers." I nodded. She was correct. "When you hear them rattle their tails, don't look into their eyes, or else you will fall under their spell." I nodded again; also correct.

Soon we all flipped off.

Kai managed to land right in the middle of a bunch of snakes. "Well," he said, "let's see how you like spinjitsu!" I mentally face palmed when he ran smack into the wall.

"We are really out of shape," I muttered. Cole and Lia landed right in front of the general and started fighting together, trying to get close enough to grab the staff. I was about to join them when I spotted the source of our trouble running off.

Lloyd Garmadon was trying to escape with a wheelbarrow full of candy. I quickly threw my shurikens so that they landed right in front of the wheels, causing it to slip and Lloyd to fall on his face. I raced over to him. I felt a cold light in my eyes.

"Sensei was right," I said coldly. "We should have dealt with you when we had the chance."

A sudden screech from the village caught my attention, and Lloyd took the moment to run for it. I decided to let him go. We had bigger problems. As I raced back to the village, I heard Lloyd yell, "Retreat!"

Cole's POV

Finally, an opening for the staff.

I had been fighting the general for about 5 minutes already when Lloyd's call for retreat. I could see the momentary confusion in the snake's eyes and grabbed the staff, yanking it out of his hand. I quickly flipped away.

The general eyed me for a moment, before calling the retreat to his troops. Examining the staff, I looked up when I heard and hiss.

I was looking straight into the eyes of a hypnobrai.

"I control you." I could feel my consciousness flowing away from my body. I still had complete awareness, I just couldn't control anything.

Suddenly, Lia came and kicked the snake in the face. She looked at me closely. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, then noticed that I had a staff in my hand. "The anti venom!" I called. "I have it."

"Put it in the fountain." Nya was brilliant. I dashed towards it and sank the bottom of the staff in the water. I watched as fog spread from the staff into the city streets, freeing thee citizens from the hypnotic control of the snakes.

I noticed that Lia was walking off by herself. I went up to her. She refused to meet my gaze. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Lloyd unleashed the Serpentine." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," I said uncertainly.

She bit back a sob. "My baby brother…" She turned to me.

"I am sorry, Cole, but I just need to be alone right now." She took off sprinting, away from the village.

I could feel her pain as if it was mine.

It was stronger than any physical wound.

Liana's POV

I ran until I was out of breath, probably about six miles. Once I stopped, I just sat down and sobbed.

My little brother.

My innocent brother.

My sweet, charming, funny brother.

My brother had just unleashed the Serpentine.

Once I got my sobs under control, I began to sing a song that I had always sung to Lloyd when he was little. It was about how, despite the actions of our father, we can do anything we want. It had been my anthem growing up, and I was livening proof that it was true.

I just wish my brother was too.

I found my voice to sing.

_You didn't ask for this  
Nobody ever would  
Caught in the middle of this dysfunction  
It's your sad reality  
It's your messed up family tree  
And all your left with all these questions_

Are you gonna be like your father was and his father was?  
Do you have to carry what they've handed down?

No, this is not your legacy  
This is not your destiny  
Yesterday does not define you  
No, this is not your legacy  
This is not your meant to be  
I can break the chains that bind you

I have a dream for you  
It's better than where you've been  
It's bigger than your imagination  
You're gonna find real love  
And you're gonna hold your kids  
You'll change the course of generations

No, this is not your legacy  
This is not your destiny  
Yesterday does not define you  
No, this is not your legacy  
This is not your meant to be  
I can break the chains that bind you

Cause you're my child  
You're my chosen  
You are loved  
You are loved

And I will restore  
All that was broken  
You are loved  
You are loved

And just like the seasons change  
Winter into spring  
You're bringing new life to your family tree now  
Yes you are  
You are

No, this will be your legacy  
This will be your destiny  
Yesterday did not define you  
No, this will be your legacy  
This will be your meant to be  
I can break the chains that bind you

And just like the seasons change  
Winter into spring  
You're bringing new life to your family tree now

**So, what did y'all think? And yes, I am from Texas, so it is perfectly acceptable for me to say y'all.**

**Sorry if the writing got worse towards the end, that was a really long chapter.**

**Also, Please, please vote on my poll. It'll probably be closing soon.**

**Anyways, love ya readers!**

**~Boogalee**


	19. Chapter 19

**Of Love, Life and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Hey guys! I'm alive!**

**Sorry for my slight absence, it was district tournament weekend for basketball. First Place!**

**So, to make it up for you guys, I am going to be posting two chapters tonight. The first one won't be super long, but it will be full of POV of characters outside of the norm. The next chapter will be one of those emotional ones that are so much fun to write. Have fun reading.**

**Also, guys, we have 93 reviews! Maybe we can make it over one hundred with these chapters? You guys rock! I know that it is not normal for an 18-chapter story to have so many reviews! Thanks to ZaneLoverFan88, Frosti1212, KaitouKiwi, mykindleisawesome, dixicorn, and Bunnyman4.**

**Special thanks to Lpsawesome, for officially declaring my story awesome, and to Moon and Gracie for being totally sweet and amazing!**

**Anyways, I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot.**

Chapter 19

Skales' POV

The trek back to our icy tomb after our defeat at Jamanikai Village was a long, silent one.

The General was out front, leading us condescendingly back to the prison we grudgingly called our home. That pipsqueak, Lloyd, was walking directly beside him, the highest insult possible, and yet our _dearest and most generous _general did not do a thing about it.

I was grumping right behind them. I was seriously ticked about what had happened at the village, even if no one else was. I was brooding to myself when one of my scouts, Rattla, came up to me.

"You do nothing!" He hissed.

I ignored him and walked dutifully behind the general.

When we finally got back to the tomb, and the doofus was wailing about how much he needed candy, I approached the general, asking him why we were doing the bidding of a human child.

"He set us free," he replied. That rubbed me the wrong way. At least, I think that is how that human saying goes.

"He is not one of us!" I answered him scathingly.

"Stand down!" He yelled/ordered. "I may not have the staff, but I am still your general." Bowing my head in submission, I walked away from him. Rattle once again approached me.

"You coward! You are second in command, and still you do nothing?!" he hissed, barely making it a whisper.

"Now was not the time," I replied coolly. "I still hold the key to bringing on the ninja's defeat."

My vision flashed red, and I was looking through the eyes of the black ninja of earth. I gave a slimy smile.

"He doesn't have a clue that I have gotten him under my control."

No one's POV

The Darkness would have grinned, had it had a corporeal form.

It had finally found a way into the black ninja's heart.

That idiotic Serpentine had opened up the passage way by forcing the victim under his control.

Now, the black ninja was his own worst enemy. His sorrow for that girl had brought on a whole new wave of feelings for him. He had no way of controlling them.

The Darkness pulsed with malevolent delight.

The Time was drawing nearer.

Kai's POV

Cole and I were both worried out of our minds about Lia.

When she had run off sobbing, we took one look at each other and took off after her. When she finally stopped, we were both winded.

We stood quietly and just listened to her sing. I sighed. She truly had an amazing voice.

When she finished her song, Cole and I shifted uncomfortably in the shadows. We weren't sure what to do, as she hadn't noticed our presence yet.

I took a deep breath. We still hadn't talked about my true feelings for her. I decided that right now she could use a little love.

I mustered up my courage and walked right out to her.

Cole's POV

I must be the worst boyfriend on the planet.

I let Lia run off like that, after she just found out that her brother had released snake humanoid beings intent on destroying Ninjago. She said that she didn't want company.

I should have gone after her anyways.

Now, as Kai walked up to her with a determined look on his face, I was frozen in place with sheer panic and terrorizing fear that my hesitation might have just lost my her love.

I wanted to go to her, but it was all I could do to keep from running away.

**Okay, so I know that that was a really, **_**really**_**, bad chapter. I even cringed while I was writing it, so I wonder what you readers will think…**

**Oh well. Everyone has those days. The next chapter will be better!**

**Please review!**

**~Boogalee**


	20. Chapter 20

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**So, here's that next chapter I promised.**

**Not much else to say.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot! I don't own "Stuck like Glue" by Sugarland either!**

Chapter 20

Liana's POV

My sobs had lessened somewhat when I heard footsteps behind me. I looked up to see Kai approaching. I buried my head in my knees again. "Go away," I told him miserably. "I really don't want company."

Ignoring my plea, he knelt down beside me and gently lifted my head from between my knees. His ochre eyes looked solidly into my blue ones. He only said one simple sentence.

"It's alright to cry."

That broke me down even more. Soon, I found myself in Kai's arms, sobbing into his chest. He rocked me back and forth, whispering comforting words in my ear.

"Shh, it's alright. It's not your fault. There's nothing you could do."

I pulled back at his words. "I could have done a lot more! I could have worked more with him to get him to make the right decisions! I could have stopped him from going to Darkly's! I could have run away sooner!" I sobbed harder, until Kai once again forced eye contact.

"Listen to me, Lia," He said determinedly. "There is nothing you could have done. Lloyd choose his own path, and it took him away from you. He is the biggest idiot in the world if he does not want you in his life."

I looked down. "But what if he doesn't? I am nothing special, nothing to go out of the way for."

Kai looked stricken. "Of course you are special! I have known you for seven years, and I feel like I still don't know how deep your kindness goes. You are one of the best people I know!"

He pulled me to my feet and grabbed my shoulders with one hand and lifted my chin up, using the knuckle of his other. "Anyone who doesn't like you is just plain stupid. You have a way of melting the people around you, bringing out the best in them." His voice cracked on those last words. I finally felt the courage to fully meet his eyes.

"You brought out the best in me." He hesitated. "I love you, Lia."

Before I knew it, our lips had met, and I was kissing Kai.

Kai's POV

What the heck am I doing?

Why am I kissing her?

Don't get me wrong, I was seriously enjoying this.

But I'm not her boyfriend.

Oh my gosh.

Cole was right out there, watching us.

I started to panic, but I felt Lia pull away.

Cole's POV

My hear broke in two as I watched Kai lean in and kiss Lia.

I should have been the one out there, comforting her, not Kai. I was her boyfriend; it was my job to make sure that Lia was okay.

I think that I might just have been fired.

Liana's POV

I was hoping for a spark.

A flame.

Something.

Even a little flutter.

I honestly wanted to feel something for Kai. After all, no matter how horribly I had treated him when I was hanging out with Nya, he was always ready to help me.

But I felt nothing.

I might as well have been kissing a rock.

I pulled back regretfully and looked sadly into his eyes. "I am sorry, Kai." I watched as his eyes fell. "I just don't feel that way about you." I watched as they fell even more. "I am sorry," I repeated. After, a brief hesitation, I gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned away.

Just in time to see the retreating form of my black ninja.

He had seen the kiss.

Kai's POV

Things just weren't going my way today.

As I watched Lia sprint after Cole, I sat down dejectedly in the clearing. I noticed that it was, ironically, shaped like a heart.

Great, even nature's mocking me now.

I just can't believe that I finally get the courage to tell a girl that I liked her after five years, and she is already in love with someone else.

Let's just admit it.

My heart was broken.

I put my head between my knees as the sobs began to flow.

Cole's POV

I couldn't stand it anymore.

I couldn't watch one of my brothers standing there kissing my girl.

I turned and ran.

I felt tears run down my cheeks. I knew Kai loved her, but I didn't think that Lia would allow herself to be kissed.

The tears fell faster as the true sense of betrayal kicked in. I loved Lia, more than was humanly possible, and it was making me physically sick to see her kissing another man.

Finally, the distance, combined with the sobs, became too much for me and I collapsed, heaving great sobs of air mixed with salty tears. I didn't notice the soft foot falls behind me until I heard a timid voice call, "Cole?"

I turned to see Lia, standing there, looking worried. My face hardened. "What do you want?" I could see my tone cut across her like sharpened steel. She looked seriously hurt.

"Cole, I did not kiss Kai. I had no choice in the matter."

I gave her a shaky laugh. "Oh yeah? You choose to stand there while he decided to kiss you. Isn't that the same thing?"

She shook her head. "The second after his lips touched mine, I knew something wasn't right. He didn't feel right." Her voice was rising. "He didn't make me feel like you do! His was just like shaking someone's hand, but one I kiss you, it's like the whole world goes away! I only care about you!" Her voice broke. "I thought you knew that!" Her shoulders began to shake with sobs.

Oh my gosh, I had made her cry. I scrambled up and tried to put my arms around her, but she yanked violently away, running to the edge of the clearing and collapsing. I walked up behind her.

"Lia, I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply that you were cheating on me." The words were heavy in my throat. Even after dating Lia for two months, I still am never sure of the right words to say to her to comfort her. "I was just desperate and hurt. I-I, I'm sorry. Lia, I love you with all of my heart."

Her sobs came harder, but this time, she flung herself into my arms. She buried her face against my neck. "I love you too," she mumbled against my neck. I sighed in relief and pull back, just enough so that I can kiss her. Soon, she is kissing me back, and it is absolutely wonderful.

When we pulled back for air, I gave a shaky laugh. "This might sound totally crazy, but know what song this reminds me of?"

She thought for a moment. "'Stuck like Glue?'"

I gave a genuine laugh. "Exactly!"

She laughed to and began to sing in her melodious voice.

_MMMM better...MMMM better...  
Absolutely no one that knows me better  
No one that can make me feel sooo goooood  
How did we stay so long together?  
When everybody, everybody said we never would  
And just when I, I start to think they're right  
That love has died..._

I joined in, gently adding my deep voice to harmonize with hers.

_There you go making my heart beat again,  
Heart beat again,  
Heart beat again  
There you go making me feel like a kid  
Won't you do it and do it one time?  
There you go pulling me right back in,  
Right back in,  
Right back in  
And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo_

I'm stuck on you  
Whutooo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me baby we're stuck like glue  
Whutooo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me baby we're stuck like glue

Some days I don't feel like trying  
Some days you know I wanna just give up  
When it doesn't matter who's right, fight about it all night  
Had enough  
You give me that look  
"I'm sorry baby let's make up"  
You do that thing that makes me laugh  
And just like that...

There you go making my heart beat again,  
Heart beat again,  
Heart beat again  
There you go making me feel like a kid  
Won't you do it and do it one time  
There you go pulling me right back in,  
Right back in,  
Right back in  
And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo

I'm stuck on you  
Whutooo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me baby we're stuck like glue  
Whutooo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me baby were stuck like glue

Whutooo Whutoo

You almost stay out, too stuck together from the ATL  
Whutooo Whutoo  
Feeling kinda sick?  
Just a spoon full of sugar make it better real quick

I say  
Whutooo Whutoo  
Whatcha gonna do with that?  
Whutooo Whutoo  
Come on over here with that  
Sugar sticky sweet stuff  
Come on give me that stuff  
Everybody wants some  
Melodies that get stuck

Up in your head  
Whutooo whutooo

Up in your head  
Whutooo whutooo

Up in your head  
Whutooo whutooo

Up in your head  
Whutooo whutooo  
Whuthoo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me together, say, it's all I wanna do  
I said

There you go making my heart beat again,  
Heart beat again,  
Heart beat again  
There you go making me feel like a kid  
Won't you do it and do it one time  
There you go pulling me right back in,  
Right back in,  
Right back in  
And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo

There you go making my heart beat again,  
Heart beat again,  
Heart beat again  
There you go making me feel like a kid  
Won't you do it and do it one time  
There you go pulling me right back in,  
Right back in,  
Right back in  
And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo  
I'm stuck on you

Whutooo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me baby we're stuck like glue  
Whutooo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me baby were stuck like glue  
Whutooo whutooo  
Stuck like glue  
You and me baby we're stuck like glue

We both laughed as we finished the song. "You know what?" Lia asked me.

"What?"

"I think I love you."

As I kissed her once more, I felt her smile against my lips.

**So, what did you think? Was it the emotional roller coaster that I promised?**

**Well, I had fun writing it, if nothing else. Lots of sobbing.**

**Anyways, please don't forget to vote on my poll. Only nine people have voted!**

**Also, please review! You guys rock!**

**~Boogalee**


	21. Chapter 21

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Hey guys! I'm back!**

**I have had major writer's block for this chapter, so I am sorry I haven't updated…**

**Anyways, I now have over 100 reviews! That is freaking awesome! You guys rock! Thanks to ForeverDreamer12, KaitouKiwi, Moon and Gracie, jellybeanie10012, ZaneLoverFan88, Frosti1212, mykindleisawesome, 8zBL, Lpsaswesome, Nya909, and piinkielollipop for their reviews! I got a lot of comments on how I teased you guys with bits of LiaxKai, but really the chapter was major LiaxCole. I guess it means that I am doing my job as a writer well!**

**Anyways…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot.**

Chapter 21

Sensei's POV

The Serpentine were back.

This does not bode well on our mission to find and protect the green and purple ninja.

I sat in my room, quietly meditating. The ninja had returned yesterday from Jamanikai Village, and their ill tidings did nothing to ease my bad premonition. Not to mention the fact that there had been something of with Kai ever since they returned.

An ancient flute sat in front of me, its power much more than it appeared to be. I was searching my mind. I couldn't think of anything more to do to help the ninja reach their full potential. I could sense that Liana was the closest, though I still couldn't figure out how long it would be.

My thoughts were interrupted by shouts.

"Fire kick!"

"Monkey paw to the head!"

"Hi yah!"

I groaned. Sounds like the ninja are playing their video game again.

I got up and carefully put the flute away in its case. It was by far the best weapon we had against the Serpentine. Once the flute was secured, I made my way over to the game room and pulled the doors open. To my surprise, there was no one in there. I could have sworn that I heard fighting. They used to always be playing their game.

Then, I heard more shouts off in the direction of the training area. Odd. I walked over there.

"Dragon punch!"

"Boom!"

I yet again pushed aside doors and saw that all of the ninja, not just Lia, were out training. Kai, Jay, and Cole were each working on technique individually and it looked like Lia and Zane were getting ready to spar.

I watched as Kai twisted off into his fiery spinjitsu tornado, though when he stopped swirling, he stumbled a bit. I wondered what had happened to make him so off kilter. Jay worked on controlling the lightning from his golden weapons, and Cole practiced balancing his strength with his deceptively heavy Scythe. At the moment, Lia and Zane both looked like they were meditating, but I knew better.

Suddenly, they both exploded into action. Lia whipped out her fan-like tessens, flinging them out as easily as if she was shaking water from her hands. Zane flew into his 6th sense, spinning his hands and forcing his shurikens out of oblivion. Eyes narrowed as they seemed to shift into an alternate dimension where only they and their opponent existed.

Liana sent a powerful gust towards Zane, but he was ready, ducking close to the ground to avoid the brunt of the storm. As he fell, he sent a wave of ice hurtling towards her feet, but she leapt gracefully out of the way, using her control over the wind to sustain her jump for longer than was possible. She landed directly behind Zane, unhesitatingly throwing her tessens towards his neck to get him to yield. Zane was ready, however, and managed to get his weapons up in time to block.

After exchanging these brief blows in a matter of seconds, they both whirled off into their spinjitsu tornadoes, sending sheets of ice and freezing gusts around the training ground, tripping up their teammates, though they were oblivious to the discomfort they were putting the others in. The other three boys tripped their way towards me.

Jay's POV

I was sick of being forced out of the training grounds. "This space isn't big enough for us!" I vented out to Kai and Cole.

"Correction, this space isn't big enough for _them_." Man, Cole must be seriously ticked to say something like that about his _precious_ Lia. Don't get me wrong, I realize I was way off with that whole spy-for-Garmadon thing, but it was a little annoying how she was always in the center of whatever we did.

"He is so strange." Kai looked like the answer to our little predicament was right in front of his face, but he couldn't quite read the results.

"What is strange? Someone who is different? Or someone who is different from you?" Sensei walked up to us, always the epiphany of human 'wisdom'.

Kai had a face that said that there wasn't much of a difference. "But Sensei, Zane is _weird _weird."

I am sure that at that moment we all flashed back to the totally awkward situations that were abundant whenever the guy was around.

I remember, one night, Nya and I were watching a movie, and Zane had joined us. At the most heart-wrenching part, when the city girl realized that she was in love with the poor handsome farm boy, he had _laughed_.

Of all the things to do in a chic flick, laughing at the confession of love is not one of them.

Not that I watch too many chick flicks…

Shaking myself back into the present, we all watched as Lia and Zane bowed to each other, somehow bonking one another on the head in the process. They laughed it off, seemingly oblivious to our silent vigil.

Zane's POV

I actually laughed at the correct time when Lia and I hit heads.

I guess miracles do exist.

I smiled at Lia and she returned the favor. She had probably become my closest friend out of all of the ninja. "So," she began, "Nice spar, except for the part where we bonked heads when we bowed to each other." She glanced slyly at me. "I won't tell the others if you don't."

I laughed again. She had been working with me on a rational way to determine when it was appropriate to laugh or not, and so far, she had done what no one else before her, meaning Kai, Jay, and Cole, had done before.

She had taught me how to laugh.

My grin widened. "You know Lia," I began, than hesitated; where was I going with this? "I really just want you to know that you are like a little sister to me." Again, I hesitated. I had never really had a family before, so that feeling was completely new and welcome. "And I am really grateful."

She gave me a super sweet smile, just like I imagined a little sister would. "Thanks, Zane. I feel like you are my big brother. You are just so sweet and awkward and protective…" She looped her arm through mine. She grinned once more.

"Should we go greet our growing family, who seem to be discussing us?"

I looked to see all of the other ninja staring at us, looking guilty.

Lia giggled at the groan that escaped me.

**So, how did I do? I know that this chapter is a lot of filler, but I am trying build up that family bond between Zane and Lia… **

**Also, how did I do on the sparring scene? I was trying to test out how I would describe a battle, since that really is a major part of the ninja.**

**Anyways, please don't forget about my poll! **

**And please, review! You guys are great at that!**

**~Boogalee**


	22. Chapter 22

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Hey guys! Just want to say that all of you reviewers totally rock!**

**Thanks to ZaneLoverFan88, piinielollipop, Frosti1212, bayboo20, mykindleisawesome, 8zBL, Bunnyman4, and ForeverDreamer12. Moon and Gracie, your review was the highlight of my day, and that was with getting a 105 on my math quiz and winning a basketball game against our rival school!**

**All of you guys rock! Just putting that out there!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 22

Liana's POV

I was seriously glad that I at least had Zane on my side.

The rest of the team was all staring at us, including Cole. We walked towards them, silently wondering what was going on in their minds. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"MAIL!" they all cried, and rushed to the door. Zane and I sighed, knowing that there would be nothing for us.

The poor mailman stood huffing and puffing on the doorstep. I winced in sympathy. The monastery was built on the Mountain of a Thousand Steps, and it wasn't called that for nothing.

He dug into his bag. "Let's see… A letter from Jay's parents." He quickly handed it to the blue ninja. "A fan letter for Kai." I groaned, as if he needed anything to make his ego any larger. I am pretty sure that if he gets anymore full of himself, he's gonna explode. "And a letter from Cole's father."

Cole took it but frowned. "No package? I was expecting something from Creatures, Beasts, and Beyond." The mailman dug through his bag again.

"Nope, no- wait here we go!" He handed the box to Cole.

"Thank you!" Cole rushed off, probably to go see Rocky, his dragon.

Jay looked over at us curiously. "Hey Zane, why don't you ever hear anything from your parents?" He then turned to look at me. "I get why you don't get anything from your father, Lia, but why don't you ever hear from your mom?"

The somewhat happy expressions slid from Zane's and my faces.

Zane answered first. "I never knew my parents. I've been an orphan all my life."

"My mom left us just after Lloyd was born." The words got caught in my throat. Knowing that I wouldn't last very long out here without breaking down into tears, I grabbed Zane's arm and pulled him into the monastery behind me.

Skales's POV

I projected my view of the black ninja messing around with his dragon to Snappa, one of the scouts. "I can't believe you hypnotized one of the ninja!" he exclaimed. "Have you told the General?" It was all I could do to hold in a snort.

"No. The General is under Lloyd's command, and I plan on using this to my best advantage."

Just then, the General came around the corner. I groaned. We were currently forty feet in the air, building a _tree house castle_ for the little brat. "The rest of us work while the two of you lounge about?" He sounded mad. "Get back to work!"

Snappa stalked off immediately, but I had to ask the General a question. "General, I must question the wisdom in building this _play house_."

He turned back to me. "You do not need to question my judgment, Skales." I was saved from what was sure to be a severely long lecture on the roles of subordinates by the little pipsqueak yelling out below us.

"Hey! This elevator needs a trapdoor! If we plan on ruling Ninjago from here, I want no ninja getting in! I want more booby traps!" He stamped his foot on the ground. I suppressed yet another groan. It sounded like he was on a sugar low again.

"As you wish, Lloyd!" the General called back, while gesturing my dismissal.

I seethed as I bowed to him. "As you wish, _General_."

Zane's POV

I did not object to Liana pulling me along like a dog on a leash. I could sense that she needed someone like a brother to talk to, a fellow orphan who would understand what she was feeling right now, and here I was, readymade for her.

She pulled me all the way through the monastery; we went out of a small back door. It had let us into a small area between the back wall and the gate surrounding the monastery. She didn't stop there, however.

She tightened her grip on my arm, and before I could ask what she was dong, she used her element to lift us onto the roof. She had the wind gently set us down, and I nearly fell back off in amazement.

The view from here was stunning. I could see clear past the surrounding mountains, into green fields and blissful blue lakes. I could see the small group of kids playing ball in the next valley over, the young deer on its first walk in the small woods, even the little girl taking her first steps in Jamanikai Village. I immediately fell in love with the view.

Lia had been watching me carefully. I believe that she was trying to gauge my reaction to our position.

"I love it here," I told her, to assuage any doubts. Her tense face fell into an expression of relief. She looked out at the surrounding sights.

"This is where I come to think. Here, it is easy to imagine that I am no more significant than a little ant. I feel like I am actually part of the world." She glanced my way. "When I am a ninja, I know that people's lived are depending on my ability to live up to their standards. I feel the pressure of every life, from the youngest baby to the oldest grandparents."

She sighed. "Here, I can escape the pressure." She sat down and pulled her knees towards her chest.

I went to sit beside her, my legs stretched out, with my arms out behind me to hold up most of the weight of my upper body. "I know what you mean." I noticed her look of curiosity and elaborated. "I always feel the pressure to be the one to come up with the plan. Everyone thinks that I am the smartest, and they therefore look to me whenever we need to make a decision. A decision that could save or end a person's life." I looked out at the view once more and got what she was saying about feeling like she was but a small part of something larger. "I wish that I had a spot like this."

To my surprise, Lia gave me a totally sisterly kiss on the cheek. "Hey, what's mine is yours." She then grinned mischievously. "That is, if you can find a way up without my help."

I laughed. "Deal." I stood up and offered her a hand up. "Feeling any better about the whole no-mail thing?"

Her smile was so sweet, it could melt your heart. "Loads, thanks Zane." She hesitated, then asked, "Hey Zane, can I call you my brother?"

That brought a gentle smile to my face. "Anytime, sis." She let me haul her to her feet. "Now, how about we go make dinner?"

**So, another kind of filler chapter, but I am trying to kind of build that relationship even more. Let me know what you thought. Also, still taking song recommendations. Let me know if you have a favorite song that you would like to see make an appearance in the story!**

**You guys rock!**

**~Boogalee**


	23. Chapter 23

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Hey guys! This is totally awesome, I have over 125 reviews! On the last chapter, thanks to ForeverDreamer12, 8zBL, mykindleisawesome, Frosti1212, Gracie and Moon, piinkielollipop, ZaneLoverFan88, silverblade1999, and KaitouKiwi for their reviews. Special thanks to silverblade1999, for pointing out very nicely that Lia is slowly but surely becoming a Mary Sue, and for telling me how to avoid it!**

**And to Guest, who reviewed on Chapter 10, I am not sure why that chapter, of all chapters, was the final straw for you to declare Lia a Mary Sue…**

**Anyways, for any of you who have read Dragon Slippers by Jessica George, I will start writing a fanfiction that starts at the beginning of the series, but it will be written from Luka's POV. Secrets are sure to come out… ;) It will be called A Changing World.**

**Anyways, I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot. Also, I do not own "This One's For the Girls", by Martina McBride**

Chapter 23

Liana's POV

I hummed as I mashed up the potatoes for dinner. I swayed slightly to the beat, and added a twirl when I reached the chorus. Zane glanced over to me. "What are you humming?"

I paused. I really wasn't sure which song I was singing. I thought back, and then hummed the previous line again. Another pause, and then I realized what song it was.

I laughed. "'This One's for the Girls', ever heard it?" He shook his head. "It's about how girls need to learn that they are what their experiences made them, and they should love it." I paused, then looked at him squarely. "Want to hear it?" He eagerly nodded.

I cleared my throat, added butter to the potatoes, then began to sing.

_This one's for all you girls about thirteen  
High school can be so rough, can be so mean  
Hold onto, on to your innocence  
Stand your ground when everyone's giving in_

This one's for the girls

This is for all you girls about twenty-five  
In a little apartment, just trying to get by  
Living on, on dreams and spaghetti-o's  
Wondering where you life is gonna go

This one's for the girls  
Who've ever had a broken heart  
Who've wished upon a shooting star  
You're beautiful the way you are  
This one's for the girls  
Who love without holding back  
Who dream with everything they have  
All around the world  
This one's for the girls

This is for all you girls about forty-two  
Tossing pennies into the Fountain of Youth  
Every laugh, laugh line on your face  
Made you who you are today

This one's for the girls  
Who've ever had a broken heart  
Who've wished upon a shooting star  
You're beautiful the way you are  
This one's for the girls  
Who love without holding back  
Who dream with everything they have  
All around the world  
This one's for the girls

Yeah, we're all the same inside (same inside)  
From 1 to 99

This one's for the girls  
Who've ever had a broken heart  
Who've wished upon a shooting star  
You're beautiful the way you are  
This one's for the girls  
Who love without holding back  
Who dream with everything they have  
All around the world  
This one's for the girls  
Yeah, this one's for the girls

He applauded. "You have a great voice, sis."

I blushed. "Thanks." Continuing to hum, I finished up with the potatoes. "Done with the potatoes. How's the chicken coming?"

"You tell me." He tore off a small piece and handed it to me. It was burning hot.

I juggled it from hand to hand. "Hot! Hot! Hot hot hot hot hot!" I tossed it into my mouth and my eyes widened. "This is so good! Where on earth did you learn to cook?"

It was now his turn to blush. "I dunno, I just kinda picked it up." He finished arranging the green beans nicely around the chicken, and I picked up the potatoes and homemade rolls.

We shared a ghost of a smile, then headed out to serve dinner.

Cole's POV

Jay, Nya, Sensei, Kai, and I were laughing it up when Zane and Lia came in with dinner.

If we were laughing before, now we were busting a gut. They had actually come out wearing that?

They looked confused. "What's so funny?" Lia asked curiously.

Nya tried to answer through her laughter. "Zane and Lia, I… well, even I wouldn't wear that!"

They both looked down at what they had on. Over, their normal gis, they had on matching pink floral aprons. Lia blushed, but Zane just looked confused. "You laugh because we take steps to ensure that we are clean when we are finished cooking?"

Kai busted out laughing even harder. "No, we're laughing because you came out wearing that ridiculous outfit!" With that, everyone laughed harder.

Zane looked down. "I guess we don't share the same sense of humor." He and Lia both looked distinctly uncomfortable.

I looked around the table. Lia had just set down some mashed potatoes…

"Well, how about this?" I suggested, and, picking up the bowl of potatoes, I shoved them into Kai's face.

Everyone, except for Zane, laughed even harder. Even Lia gave a small giggle.

Man, I love it when she laughs.

"How could you not find that funny?" I asked incredulously. Unbeknownst to me, Sensei had sneaked up quietly behind me. I gave a yell when he poured a pot of gravy on my head. Lia busted out laughing. I couldn't help but smile, even if it was at my cost.

"Now, you are brothers," Sensei said solemnly, before cracking a small smile. As he walked back to his seat, a full out food fight started.

As I was stuffing a green bean up Jay's nose, I noticed Zane slip away, and Lia following after him.

Zane's POV

I walked out to where we kept the trash bins and sighed, lifting the apron off and over my head. I threw it in the trash and bent down over the rim, my elbows on the edge and my head in my hands. I heard soft footfalls behind me, but I didn't look up.

"Zane?" I heard Lia timidly ask. When I didn't respond, she walked up to me and threw her apron into the bin too. She didn't say anything, just stood there, keeping me company.

Finally, I broke the silence. "Why am I so different?" I whispered. She came up right next to me and put her arm around me.

"Zane, different is good. Everyone has at least one flaw. Yours is that you aren't able to see what is funny and what isn't. As far as flaws go, it could be worse. Like mine." She sighed and put her head in her hands too. I looked over at her. I hadn't noticed a single flaw around her. As far as I could tell, she was perfect.

"What is your flaw?" I asked curiously.

She didn't look at me. "Hubris. That type of certain deadly pride that causes you to believe that you can do anything and everything better than everyone else."

I looked at her more closely. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was probably true. She tended to take on too much responsibility, and push herself too far. I sighed and put my arm around her. "I guess we all have room to improve."

A sudden caw behind us drew our attention. We looked to see a raven behind us, sitting on a bare branch. I cocked my head, and the raven matched the movement. Lia looked between us. "Is it copying you?" she wondered. I shrugged. I had no idea. I took a step to the side, and the raven did the same. I shared a glance with her, and then I flapped my arms, like I was flying. The raven did the same.

After doing his funky dance, the raven cawed once again and took off, looking strangely like he wanted Lia and me to follow. With a shared shrug, we both ran after it.

**So, how was it? I know, I am really stretching out this episode…**

**Anyways, let me know if you have any ideas for the other fanfic I am going to start. I really like that series, so if you haven't read it, then you definitely should!**

**Again, thanks for reading!**

**~Boogalee **


	24. Chapter 24

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**So, hey guys! Another chapter up and running! With over 130 reviews! That is totally cool!**

**And, turns out that I also adopted another Dragon Slippers fanfic, so three stories at once! Updates will probably be a little slower now. Sorry!**

**Anyways, the awesome reviewers on last chapter were: KaitouKiwi, mykindleisawesome, ForeverDreamer12, Bunnyman4, Frosti1212, ZaneLoverFan88, Moon and Gracie, and piinielollipop! I love have to thank so many people!**

**Also, seeing as it has been a while since I have thanked all the people who have followed and favorited me, here we go: Thanks to Bunnyman4, DragonLuver123, Dragonfan47, Frosti1212, KaitouKiwi, Katstorm, Mehri Garmadon, MoonOfMoons, NacyDrewified, QueenOfNinjago, Rainwing127, Shadow Elizabeth Jackson, Violet Wayne, ZaneLoverFan88, america047, bayboo20, mykindleisawesome, rabia1125, 8zBL, Rosie Silver, roserain1998, and silverblade1999. You guys totally rock!**

**Anyways, I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 24

Liana's POV

As Zane and I ran after that crazy bird, I couldn't help but think back to our conversation before.

"_Zane, different is good. Everyone has at least one flaw. Yours is that you aren't able to see what is funny and what isn't. As far as flaws go, it could be worse. Like mine."_

"_What is your flaw?"_

"_Hubris. That type of certain deadly pride that causes you to believe that you can do anything and everything better than everyone else."_

I wasn't completely sure why I had said that. It was even really related to what he had asked. It was almost as if something had forced the words out of me.

Preoccupied with my thoughts as I was, I didn't notice Zane stopping in front of me.

That is, I didn't notice until I ran into him.

"Oomph, sorry Zane." I took the moment to look around. Moonlight filtered green through the tall trees above us. The howls of the wolf and cries of the owl could be heard all around. I shivered as a cold gust blew through the fall night air. Something was wrong here.

"Um, Lia?" Zane called quietly. "You might want to see this." Something about the tone in his voice sent chills racing up my spine.

I crept over to where he was standing. In front of us loomed a wide clearing, where the moon was just visible over the tree line, her pale light illuminating the ghastly seen before us. A massive tree house was being constructed in the middle, the majority of it being held up by three load bearing lines.

The tree house in and of itself wasn't horrible.

It was who was constructing it.

Dozens of Hypnobrai wandered in and out of its corridors, pushing wheel barrows full of nails and boards and… Was that mice?

Eww.

A shout from near the top of the precarious structure drew our attention. "More booby traps!" the young figure cried.

I nearly fainted.

Lloyd was commanding the Serpentine to build _this_? I looked more closely at it. Strong entry ways, a fortified floor. The place was built like a fortress.

Subconsciously, I had been rising from our hiding place. I jumped when I felt Zane's hand on my arm.

"What are you doing?" he hissed. "If you go out there now, you'll get captured, or worse!"

I shook his hand off my arm. "I have to go get him! He's my brother!" I took off, leaping and flipping y way through the trees dodging the watchful gaze of the sentries.

Finally, I was level with the roof, where I saw my brother bossing around the General. Of course.

He had to go and gain control of the most powerful snake in the tribe.

I just hope that he could escape before he got bit.

Zane's POV

What was I doing, just standing here, watching her go after Lloyd by herself?

I should be there, helping her, or I should go and get the others!

Despite the fact that these thoughts were running through my mind, I was stuck standing here, watching as Lia flipped herself up onto the roof. I saw her grab Lloyd and shake him. I winced in sympathy when I saw that she was yelling, even if I couldn't hear her words.

Poor kid.

My empathy turned to horror as I saw a snake creeping up behind her. She was too busy yelling at her brother to notice that the second in command was lurking feet from her. Suddenly, he lunged forward, putting a cloth over her mouth while holding her tightly from behind. There must have been chloroform or something on it, because as soon as it was over her mouth, she passed out.

Oh, no.

I needed to go get help.

As fast as I could, which was faster than what I thought was possible, I made my way back to the monastery.

Lia's flaw had finally gotten her into some serious trouble.

Kai's POV

Cole, Jay and I were sitting around playing Go Fish when Zane burst through the door.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

Why was I sitting around playing cards with the guy that had stolen my girl?

Well, to tell you the truth, I honestly couldn't hold anything against Cole. Something about him made you want to trust and like him. The guy was a natural leader.

Although, I didn't really like him right now, as he was winning the game.

So, back to Zane.

He burst through the door, panting heavily. He held a hand to his side and leaned against the frame.

"Go fish. Hey, Zane, what's up?" I wasn't really paying attention, looking at my cards and trying to remember whether or not Jay had a three.

"Lia… Raven… Snakes…. Captured!" He burst out. We all just stared at him.

"Um, Zane? Maybe you could, you know, start at the top?" Cole prompted.

The white ninja quickly recovered. "When Lia and I were talking, we saw a weird raven and began to follow it. It led us to a tree house, which we saw Lloyd was having the Serpentine build. Lia lost it, thinking that she could talk some sense into her brother, but when she tried, she was captured!" He said all of this quickly. Wait a minute…

"Lia was captured?" Cole and I said simultaneously, while giving one another twin glares.

Zane nodded. "We need to go help her!"

All of us, including Jay, sprang into action.

Without hesitation, we all ran after Zane, following him deeper into the forest.

Liana's POV

I was such an idiot!

I banged my head against the wooden bars of the cell that the snakes had put me in.

I let my arrogance get the best of me, and just after I finished talking to Zane about it too!

A rustling sound shook me from my thoughts. I turned to see a door opening, and one of the snakes walked in. His eyes glinted maliciously. "Hello, my dear," he hissed in what he clearly thought was a seductive matter.

Gross. A snake was trying to seduce me.

"I understand that you have a… _unique_ relationship with Lloyd."

I still refused to speak to him. I met his stare impassively.

He slowly walked up to me and ran a finger across my cheek. "Such _beautiful_ skin. With the cutest freckles, too!"

He placed a slobbery kiss on my cheek and moved away. The second he was two feet away, I wiped his spit off my face in disgust. His eyes narrowed. "You know, _my dear,_" he said poisonously, while slowly circling me. "I could make you my _queen._" His hungry glance seemed to tear me apart.

"Surely you have noticed that there are no female Serpentine." He stopped circling me and looked me fully in the eye. "The only way for us to ever find love is to convince a human to love us. If they confess their love to us, they become a snake." He paused, still staring at me, then started pacing again.

"Legend says that they are beautiful beyond compare, with flowing hair, young eyes, and the most beautiful voice ever heard." Again he stopped in front of me. "That could be you."

Eww, extra gross.

"Join me, Liana." I jumped when he said my given name. He made it sound monstrous, deadly even, yet he managed to also make it like a caress, like a kiss.

"Be my partner. Together we could do great things." Unwanted pictures and memories of my dad saying things like that popped into my mind.

He leaned in to whisper in my ear. "I am Skales. I could be yours."

With that, he left the room.

I released a breath that I didn't know I had been holding, and felt my muscles relax. I tried not to dwell on his words, but something about them had kindled a fire within me.

It wasn't a flame that I was sure I could control.

**So, how did I do? I realize that that was kind of an awkward spot to end it, but my computer is about to die…**

**Oh well! Review please!**

**~Boogalee**


	25. Chapter 25

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Hey! So, I know I only posted the other chapter about 3 hours ago, but I had this idea for a really slimy chapter entirely from Skales's POV. I got to thinking, what would he think of trying to seduce Lia?**

**Anyways, here is the byproduct of that! Also, thanks to KaitouKiwi, Frosti1212, ForeverDreamer12, Bunnyman4, Moon and Gracie for reviewing on the last chapter so far!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot! I do not own "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi either!**

Chapter 25

Skales's POV

I stared through the one-way window, watching our prisoner pace back and forth.

She really was a creature of true beauty, something that was extremely hard to come by in the modern world.

While she was beautiful on the outside, it also went straight to her core. She was kind, honest, and hardworking through and through.

It made me despise her.

The sweeter she was, the harder it would be to turn her.

Although, she did have one flaw.

And it had led to her capture.

I am sure that I could make her arrogance and pride into something monstrous and deceitful.

It was only a matter of how.

I sighed. I truly did want her to be mine. It was a rare accomplishment for a Serpentine to gain a partner, and she would be a true prize. It also didn't hurt that I had been looking through the eyes of her boyfriend for the past day.

I had caught every admiring glance he had sent her, every appraising look.

The actions were filled with so much love, it had almost made me physically sick.

I wanted to see the pain that it would cause the black ninja, wanted him to know true and unbearable pain, as I had felt, locked away all those years.

Yet, below all of the raging, negative emotions, something new was working its way to the surface.

I looked more closely at Liana. She was twirling a lock of her strawberry blonde hair around and around her finger. It looked like a nervous tick.

How cute.

Did I actually just think that?

I paused, reevaluating my emotions, only one explanation coming to light.

I rushed over to the nearest window and threw up, ignoring the indignant complaints of those working below me.

The only plausible explanation was that I _loved_ her.

I am such an idiot! I was supposed to be seducing her, not falling for her!

That stupid girl had actually made me love her!

I walked back to the one-way window, and heard her singing slightly to herself. I craned my ears to hear what she was singing.

_It's all the same, only the names will change  
Everyday it seems we're wasting away  
Another place where the faces are so cold  
I'd drive all night just to get back home_

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride  
I'm wanted dead or alive  
Wanted dead or alive

Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days  
And the people I meet always go their separate ways  
Sometimes you tell the day  
By the bottle that you drink  
And times when you're alone all you do is think

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride  
I'm wanted (wanted) dead or alive  
Wanted (wanted) dead or alive

Oh! And I ride!

I'm A cowboy, on a steel horse I ride  
I'm wanted (wanted) Dead or alive

Now I walk these streets, this six string in my hand  
Still playin' for keeps, 'same old me same old band,  
I been everywhere, and I'm standing tall  
I've seen a million faces (seen an awful lot of faces)

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride  
I'm wanted (wanted) dead or alive  
I'm a cowboy, I got the night on my side  
I'm wanted (wanted) dead or alive  
And I ride, dead or alive  
I still drive, dead or alive  
Dead or alive 

_Dead or alive_

_Dead or alive_

_Dead or alive_

I gave a small smile, despite myself. She truly has an amazing voice.

And no one can go wrong with a little Bon Jovi!

I recoiled, mentally chastising myself.

Bad Skales! You cannot actually love a human girl, let alone a ninja! You just need her to love you!

Although, a voice said in the back of my mind, it would be easier to convince her to love you if you loved her back.

Argh, this is giving me a headache. I glanced once more at Liana.

I had seen my words take route in her head.

They only needed a little time to work.

Time was not something that we could afford.

Let's face it.

That girl had started a spark in me.

I hope that it won't flame into something that I can't control.

**So, good chapter?**

**I know, kinda unorthodox, but at this point, I really just need to let the story flow…**

**Anyways, please review!**

**~Boogalee**


	26. Chapter 26

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Hey people, I have exciting news!**

**This story officially has 150 reviews!**

**Do you realize how totally awesome that is?!**

**Okay, thanks to KaitouKiwi, Frosti1212, 8zBL, piikielollipop, mykindleisawesome, ZaneLoverFan88, and Moon and Mariah. I have a special greeting I would like to dedicate to Mariah:**

**HI!... BYE!**

**Lia: *face palms* Really? Do you realize how immature that sounded?**

**Me: When did you get here?**

**Lia: I am always with you… in your head! DUHDUHDUN!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot!**

Chapter 26

Zane's POV

Cole, Jay, and Kai raced to keep up with me as I lead the way to Lloyd's fortress.

I knew that there was not a lot of time. The legends that people tell about the Serpentine are frightening at the best.

Finally, we stood on the hill where Lia and I had stood not even 2 hours ago. The rest of the boys stood panting beside me.

"So," Cole began, "Remind me… again… how you and Lia found this place?"

"We followed a bird." Okay, that earned me some weird looks.

"And why did you follow this bird?" Jay asked, obviously concerned for my sanity.

"Because it danced." They all groaned.

My mind started making a list. It was how I organized my thoughts.

WAYS TO CONVINCE MY FRIENDS THAT I AM COMPLETELY CRAZY

Tell them that Lia was captured by snakes

Tell them we found the snakes because of a bird

Tell them we followed the bird because it danced

All of the above

Okay, looking back, I guess it does seem kind of… out there.

I pointed down into the slight depression before us, where the tree house was under construction. The hope that I was kidding about the whole thing left their bodies like air out of a flat tire. They gazed down in a mixture of awe and terror at the scene unfolding below them, but ducked suddenly as a sentry suddenly walked by, talking with his buddies.

"Ssso, Ssskalessss trying sseduce the human girl, to turn her to Ssserpentine, but rumor has it that he has…" He paused for dramatic effect **(Despicable Me reference!)**. "That SSkaless is in _love_ with the girl!" A collective gasp blew through the group, and I heard it echoed in our own little team. I turned to glare at Cole and Kai, who both looked rather pale, while Jay looked almost like he was going to throw up. I groaned. Had they not heard the legends before?

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I motioned for them to follow me, and flipped up to the roof, where there was no sentry or guard. The second they landed behind me, the questions broke from their dam.

"Is that girl Lia?"

"What did he mean, turn her to Serpentine?"

"Does someone have a doggy bag?"

That last question came from Jay, who still looked kind of sick. I decided to ignore this, hoping his stomach would hold up for the remainder of the mission. "Yes, that girl is probably Lia," I told Kai. Turning to Cole, I continued, "Legend says that if a Serpentine gets a human girl to fall in love with him, then she becomes Serpentine. And no, I don't have a doggie bag." I added as an afterthought.

Now Cole looked sick. "We have to save her!" I nodded my agreement, then pointed to the three load bearing lines. "Kai, Jay, and I will cut those 3 lines there, once we see that Cole and Lia are safe. Cole, you will go in and come out with Lia, hopefully." The boys nodded in agreement. They were all flipping off to do their jobs when I called, "Don't let them hypnotize you!"

Cole was already gone.

Liana's POV

I shifted my position, trying to get some feeling into my numb butt.

I had been sitting on the hard plank floor ever since Skales had left, thinking. As much as I didn't want to admit it, something in me craved for the power and transformation that he offered.

I tried to ignore that part.

Another part of me was holding out for the fact that Zane had been smart enough not to try to come after me alone. He probably was going for help from the boys.

I tried to encourage that part.

Finally, a part of me just wanted to curl up in a ball and hide in the corner.

That was the most prominent portion.

Giving a groan, I hauled myself to my feet, just as the door opened and a familiar snake entered the room.

Skales let himself in fully, giving me a surveying glare before closing the door behind him. He didn't hesitate, walking directly up to me. "Ahh, my beautiful Liana. Such a wondrous girl."

He began circling me once again, and I had a strange sense of déjà vu. "Your eyes glitter brilliantly, you know. I can't tell if they are blue or gray or green, but they have a magnificent ring of gold around the pupil."

I hardly dared to breathe.

"Be my princess, Liana, please."

When he circled to that I could see his eyes, they held something strange in them. Sure, there was the standard greed and lust, but in the back there was… _actual longing_?

I almost laughed out loud. He actually loved me? My mind began to race, thinking of ways I could use this to my advantage, yet I hesitated.

I didn't want to use them.

The epiphany was rather unsettling.

I wanted him to continue.

"Please Lia." He sounded desperate. "You could offer this tribe something they haven't had in years. A voice of peace."

I could convince the Serpentine to give up their war with humans.

"A touch of kindness."

I could teach them to feel compassion.

"A grain of humanity."

I could help them know what it means to be human.

"In a field of roses, you would be a lily."

That one sentence shook me out of my revelry.

Cole.

I needed to get back to Cole.

I began to do my best to appear flirtatious.

"You know, Skales," I began carefully, looking at him from under my eye lashes, "I didn't realize what a handsome snake you were." I saw victory enter his gaze, but something more as well. _Lust_. The downfall of every man.

"You really should be general; you are so clever and masculine." Okay, that sounded pathetic, but Skales was eating it up.

"Yes, I should," he said thoughtfully.

"You are so strong and powerful, you should lead."

"I should lead."

"In fact, why don't you go and challenge the General right now? Then everyone could see what I see." I leaned in and whispered in his ear. "You are one amazing snake."

His gaze grew clouded. "Yes, I will go talk to him right now."

I smiled evilly. "Of course, come with me. Let's go give the General a piece of our mind."

I ruefully took his scaly hand in mine and lead him into the corridor.

Cole's POV

I was frantic, racing through the tree house, trying to find Lia. I checked every door and hallway, trying to find her.

You will find some very interesting things when searching a Serpentine hide out.

For example, did you know that one of them slept with a picture of Miley Cyrus under their pillow? Yuck.

I was running through another corridor when I caught a glimpse of a teal gi turning a corner. I heard voices. "You are a strong snake."

"I am a strong snake."

Was I mistaken, or was Lia giving guidance counseling to a snake?

Their footsteps paused. "Go on, Skales, dear. I think I heard someone."

I pressed myself against a wall, trying to disappear, as one of the voices, the one that sounded like Lia, turned the corner. She spotted me right away, and practically threw herself at me, giving me a strangling hug. I returned it, startled.

"Are you okay?"

She beamed. "Of course. You found me!"

I was about to get into more details, but then we heard a voice from around the bend. "Lia? Are you coming?"

Her eyes widened. "Yes, Skales!" she called back. She looked terrified. Turning to me, she asked, "Are the other ninja here? Where are you planning to meet them?"

That caught me off guard. "Yes, on the roof, why?" She looked hurried.

"Just go there. I'll meet you soon." She dashed off again.

I stood there staring for a while, but soon got collected enough to head back to the roof.

Liana's POV

I left Cole standing there, racing off to catch up to Skales. Hopefully my plan would work.

I finally reached him. He was tapping his foot impatiently. "We need to go talk to the General," he said impatiently.

"Of course," I replied soothingly. "Just follow me, darling." I grasped his slimy, scaly hand once more, leading him up. He didn't even seem to notice that we weren't going in a particular direction.

I sighed. If I could, I would have knocked him out and raced to the top, but when I was with him, the other snakes didn't stop us. If I was by myself, they wouldn't hesitate to tackle me again, but Skales was second in command.

"I will rule," he mumbled incoherently, like a man drunk with power.

"Of course. I will be by you side."

"You will be by my side." His gaze sharpened for a split second, before dimming again. "You will be my queen."

"I will be your queen."

I kept fueling his senseless babbling for a while, until we finally reached the topmost floor. As I was leading him into the sunlight, his eyes regained their intelligence, and this time, they didn't dull.

"What did you do to me?" he asked angrily, his grip crushing my hand. I still lead him forward.

I batted my eyes at him innocently. "Nothing," I replied. I then noticed the three ninja at the load bearing wires, with Cole joining Jay at his. I saw Cole whisper something to him, saw Jay slide down to the roof, but Skales didn't see anything. I grinned maliciously. Now was the time to act.

"At least," I continued, "Nothing that you didn't do to yourself."

I tried to back away, but he lunged.

Jay's POV

Ugh!

I was feeling seriously sick!

Cole flipped up to join me at my post. He took one look at my face and said immediately, "Go sit down."

Nodding weakly, I slid down the wire to the roof, one hand clutching my mouth. I saw Lia facing off with one of the snakes, saw her try to shake him off, but she needed some help. I rushed forward, but my brain wasn't functioning properly. It didn't tell me to use my golden weapon, or even to kick the stupid snake, so I did the next best thing.

I puked on him.

"Yuck!" he screamed out. The distraction caused him to lose his grip on Lia, and I saw her slip away. Good. My turn.

I gave the signal to Kai and Zane to cut the ropes. They did so immediately and joined Lia and me on the roof. We all waited for Cole to cut his line.

"No!" the snake cried desperately. Looking to Cole, he said, "You! I control you!"

Cole's POV

I stood there, waiting for Jay to give the signal to cut the line.

You know, it was pretty smart of him to throw up on the snake…

I looked down, to see that my four teammates had surrounded on snake. In desperation, he looked around, and, seeing me, shouted something.

I felt my control drifting away. I was fully conscious, but I had no way to control my movements. Desperately, I tried to twitch my pinky, wiggle my toe, anything, but to no avail.

I was hypnotized.

I watched, half-detached, as, unbidden, my body began to move.

I gaped in horror as it drew my scythe and slid towards my friends.

I was petrified as I went straight to attack Liana.

**DUHDUHDUN! Cliffhanger! Did I do good?**

**Lia: You really could have ended that better.**

**Me: *annoyed* Of course I could have, but I am feeling especially lazy today. In fact, I am pretty sure that my writing got worse as the chapter went on…**

**Cole: Hey, you are forgetting to tell everyone! THE NEW SEASON OF NINJAGO AIRS IN THE US ON THE 29 OF JANUARY! That's next Wednesday people! Also, some of the previews have hints of NyaxCole, so I think I might have to add a male OC… Wait really? I might have to date Nya?**

**Me: Just stick to the script.**

**Cole: Anyways, don't forget about my poll! And please review!**

**~Boogalee**


	27. Chapter 27

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Hey people! Have a good day?**

**Lia: What are you doing? They read this so that they can know what happened during my day, not so that they can ramble on about theirs.**

**Jay: That was selfish.**

**Lia: *gives him a death glare* Give me a break. I am exhausted, okay?**

**Me: *whistles* Geez Louise, someone's grumpy. Anyways, thanks to ForeverDreamer12, Moon, ZaneLoverFan88, piinkielollipop, KaitouKiwi, Frosti1212, mykindleisawesome, Bunnyman4, 8zBL, and frankiebustle for their fantabulous reviews!**

**Lia: That isn't a real word!**

**Me: Yes it is. Google it.**

**Cole: *face palms* You guys are acting like 3 year olds! Moving on. Boogalee does not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot. She doesn't own "Come Home" by OneRepublic either**

Chapter 27

Liana's POV

I was petrified.

Cole had been hypnotized, and that stupid snake was making him attack me.

There was a reason I had never sparred with him in practice.

His eyes glowed red as he whipped his scythe from his back, swinging it menacingly. The space between us was closing at an alarming rate.

My mind raced in panic as I tried to see a logical decision to make regarding what to do. There was absolutely no way I was going to use my Tessens on him. They were too unstable. I frantically tried to recall all of my hand to hand combat lessons.

Cole was now in striking distance, and he swung his golden scythe experimentally towards my head. I ducked and backed towards the edge of the roof, carefully watching him. His eyes and body would show where he was going to strike next.

As I was backing away, I saw the other three ninja landing on the roof. They had cut two of the load bearing wires, and the whole tree house was shaking, threatening to come down at any minute. Glancing down, I saw Serpentine fleeing out of every exit that they could.

The other ninja started forward, as if to help, but I shook my head. The more people that were involved in this fight, the more people would get hurt.

I felt my foot slip slightly; I had reached the edge of the roof. I took a deep breath.

I obviously couldn't fight him.

I didn't want someone to get hurt.

I couldn't just leave him.

He is too important to me for that.

That left only one option.

Dodge his blows and talk.

Tell him how much I need him.

How much I love him.

I jumped over his swing at my feet and began to talk.

"Cole, please come back to me."

This time he feinted to the left and swung up towards my jaw.

"I need you."

His swings were getting more forceful.

"You are everything."

A vicious cut at my abdomen.

"The team needs you."

Swiping at my left arm.

"You are our leader."

I was tiring.

"You hold us together."

My breathing was short.

"I love you."

His next attack faltered slightly, giving me some hope.

"This world can't survive without you."

He genuinely hesitated, cocking his head to one side as if listening to someone. When he attacked again, it was with renewed vigor.

I had to choke down a sob.

It had been a very long night, I was exhausted, and my boyfriend was hypnotized by snakes and is currently trying to kill me.

I felt the fight slowly leaving my body. A slow duck earned me a scrape on the arm, and, in desperation, remembering how singing has helped us in the past, I started to belt out the first song that came into my mind.

_Hello world  
Hope you're listening  
Forgive me if I'm young  
For speaking out of turn  
There's someone I've been missing  
I think that they could be  
The better half of me  
They're in the wrong place trying to make it right  
But I'm tired of justifying  
So I say to you.._

I paused. Interesting song to come out. Perfect lyrics.

_Come home  
Come home  
Cause I've been waiting for you  
For so long  
For so long  
Right now there's a war between the vanities  
But all I see is you and me  
The fight for you is all I've ever known  
So come home  
Oh_

Exactly. The fight for love is all I have ever known. The music gave me strength, and I saw Cole falter.

_I get lost in the beauty  
Of everything I see  
The world ain't half as bad  
As they paint it to be  
If all the sons,  
All the daughters  
Stopped to take it in  
Well hopefully the hate subsides and the love can begin  
It might start now, yeah  
Well maybe I'm just dreaming out loud  
Until then..._

I saw blush start to rise in Cole's cheeks. He was fighting. I sang with renewed vigor.

_Come home  
Come home  
Cause I've been waiting for you  
For so long  
For so long  
Right now there's a war between the vanities  
But all I see is you and me  
The fight for you is all I've ever known  
Ever known  
So come home  
Oh_

Cole was actually shaking.

Then again, so was the building.

Deciding to go on the offensive, I started to advance on him.

_Everything I can't be  
Is everything you should be  
And that's why I need you here  
Everything I can't be  
Is everything you should be  
And that's why I need you here  
So hear this now..._

Almost there.

If I could just get 3 feet closer…

_Come home  
Come home  
Cause I've been waiting for you  
For so long  
For so long  
Right now there's a war between the vanities  
But all I see is you and me  
The fight for you is all I've ever known  
Ever known  
So come home  
Come home_

Finally, I was right next to him. Using one arm to pin his weapon to the side, I used the other to pull his head down to mine and kissed him on the lips.

As I felt my heart rate rise, I saw the red eyes fading into the warm, melted chocolate ones that I knew so well.

And Cole, my ninja, was kissing me back.

Nya's POV

I sighed, trying to find Sensei. I hadn't seen anyone in over an hour. I was starting to get worried.

I wandered into the video game room. There were cards for Go Fish scattered about and a hastily written note. I picked it up and frowned as I read it.

_Nya and Sensei-_

_Gone to save Lia from snakes working on tree house palace in forest._

_Be back soon._

_Jay, Zane, Kai, and Cole_

I ran to where Sensei was probably meditating.

Would the boys ever learn that they actually needed our help?

I got Sensei and we left right away on Flame, Kai's dragon.

Praying desperately that we weren't too late.

Cole's POV

Being forced to fight Lia was the worst thing to ever happen to me.

I was still aware of what was going on, but I couldn't do a thing about it. My heart broke, hearing her desperately pleading with me to return to her.

And then she started singing.

As always, whenever she started to sing, my heart rate began to rise.

After the first chorus, I began to feel the snake's control slipping.

After the second verse, I felt blush rising in my cheeks. I was doing this, I was fighting.

As my heart rate began to beep even faster, I began to shake after the second chorus.

I could do this. Lia saw it too, and began singing stronger.

As she sang through the interlude, she crept closer.

Finally, as she finished the last chorus, she got right in my face and kissed me.

My heart rate skyrocketed and I felt my control returning.

I was able to manipulate my body.

The first thing I did?

Kiss her back.

**So, did I do good? Did I?**

**Lia: Of course you did good. How can't you have, with a leading lady as charismatic as me?**

**Me: *groans* Okay, whatever. I tired. Good night, people! Please review!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Of Love, Life, and Lies**

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

**Lia: Hey peeps! Had a good weekend?**

**Me: You know, last chapter you got mad at me for asking people if they had a good day.**

**Lia: So what? It's cooler when I do it.**

**Kai: *rolls eyes* So, moving on.**

**Zane: Thank you to ForeverDreamer12, Moon and Gracie, piinkielollipop, ZaneLoverFan88, 8zBL, Frosti1212, mykindleisawesome, Nya909, Bunnyman4, and silverblade1999 for their amazing reviews.**

**Me: 8zBL, I actually had something like that planned for this chapter. Believe me, I am totally aware of how cliché that is getting. I recently went back and reread my story from start to now, and I just realized how often I did that…**

**Cole: Just get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago, only Liana and some of the plot.**

Chapter 28

Skales's POV

All I could see was black.

Normally, when people are mad, they see red. Today I saw black.

The color of darkness.

The color of fear.

The color of death.

The color of the ninja standing right in front of me, kissing my girl.

I was seething mad. I watched as they broke apart. Liana had freed him by singing to him and kissing him. Could you get anymore Disney?

I watched as they whispered some disgustingly sweet words to one another. You know, like those cheesy pick up lines that you see all the time in chick flicks, like 'I couldn't live without you' or 'you showed me the way back'?

Not that I watch many chick flicks…

While they were so engrossed in each other, I walked right up behind Cole's back. I made a slight noise, bringing Liana's eyes to meet mine. Instantly, I hypnotized her. "I control you now," I hissed. I needed her to be _completely_ mine.

"You control me now," she murmured back dreamily. Her eyes slowly turned to red. Cole, alarmed immediately tried to shake her out of it.

"Come on, Lia, wake up!" he cried desperately. I shook my head; I couldn't allow him to break her free.

"Block out his voice," I ordered. Immediately, there was a ring of wind circulating around her head, blocking out any and all noise, except for the sound of my voice.

I grinned maliciously. There was no way the ninja were getting out of this one.

I sent the teal ninja of wind rushing to attack her comrades.

Liana's POV

I was lost.

Somewhere inside, I was aware of what I was doing, but I had no control over my actions. The complete helplessness left me feeling empty, even more than I had ever felt before in my life.

Slowly, my awareness began to fade. I drifted off to a nightmarish place filled with darkness and despair.

_I was able to move again, in this strange, dark place. I wandered around, desperate for light, but all I could find was darkness, darkness, and more darkness._

_I ran harder, but a grating laugh echoed all around me._

Fool,_ it cried._ You cannot escape the darkness. It is impenetrable.

_I tripped on something and fell, banging up my knees and elbows. I tried to scramble to my feet, but something held me down._

It is unbreakable.

_The pressure started in my chest, pushing down on my lungs, stopping my breath._

It is all-powerful.

_I pushed even harder against the unseen force, but it only seemed like my struggles gave it more power._

_It cackled once more. _The Time has come for Darkness to rise.

And it will not be stopped.

_I groaned, using the last of my precious air._

_Its laughter was the last thing I heard before I lost all awareness._

Jay's POV

Okay, I was totally freaking out.

First, Cole is hypnotized by those stupid snakes, but somehow Lia manages to free him.

She probably went all chick flick on him. (I already told you that I don't watch chick flicks!)

You think that that would be enough, after Liana getting captured and us finding a massive Serpentine hideout in our own back yard, right?

Wrong.

Liana, probably the strongest and most trained ninja out of all of us, manages to get hypnotized; only she can't hear us now, so we have no hope of helping her without hurting her. I gulped.

There was nothing more frightening than a hypnotized, beautiful girl running at you with powerful, golden, razor-sharp fans in her hand.

She sprinted towards where Zane, Kai, and I were standing awkwardly. That whole fight with her and Cole had just been weird for us, and now we were a little slow to draw our weapons, Kai and Zane especially. I knew that Kai still loved her, and Zane thought of her like a little sister, so they would be even more hesitant to hurt her than I was.

I drew my nun chucks. Maybe I could shock some sense into her? It was worth a try.

I began circling my weapon above my head. "Believe me, this is gonna hurt you a lot worse than it is going to hurt me," I called to her, despite the fact that she couldn't hear me. I threw back my arm, then whipped it in her direction. She was knocked off her feet by the powerful blast.

For a second, I actually thought that it had worked. Then, she stood back up, looking angrier and slightly fried, but still very much under Skales's command.

Dang it.

Why couldn't the simple solution ever work right?

Cole raced over to join us. His face looked tormented. Either that, or he was constipated. I'm guessing it was more of the former, because last night was Zane and Lia's night to cook, not Cole's. If it was his turn to cook last night, I would actually say that the later was more likely…

I shook my head, bringing my thoughts back into focus. Liana had swiped at Zane, nearly giving him a haircut, while simultaneously kicking out towards Kai's knees. Both barely managed to dodge.

The fight went on in this cat and mouse manner for a while, with neither side gaining an advantage. I don't think any of us realized the true extent of Liana's previous training before now. Currently, she was using a mixture of every known martial art and spinjitsu to create a whirling sort of dance that was almost impossible to fight, even with four people. She was a deadly machine.

I wasn't sure which side was going to win out in the end.

Zane's POV

I dodged Liana's left hook and tried to get in a punch to knock her out, but her guard was too strong.

At this point, I just wanted to subdue her; once we got back to the monastery, we could work on a cure.

I could feel my movements slowing. Fatigue gripped my arms in its deadly vice, wearing them down with the weight of exhaustion. I looked around to see my teammates similarly affected, but Liana was still plowing on, as if her only desire was to fight.

I watched in horror as she kicked out at Jay's stomach. His reaction to slow, his chest took the brunt of it. There was enough power behind to blow to knock him to the opposite corner, where he sat completely still.

I gulped; four against one, and she had already taken one of us down.

Kai was the next to go. In desperation to end the fight, he flipped onto a tree branch and jumped onto her back. I wasn't entirely sure what his aim was, but either was it did inconvenience her for a moment. But only for a moment.

She ran backwards, slamming her back, and, in effect, Kai, against a tree. You could hear a loud _umph_ as the air rushed out of his body, and consequently, he lost his hold. Lia immediately flipped him over her shoulder and right into Jay, who had just barely begun to move again. I winced in sympathy; Kai wasn't the lightest ninja. He wasn't fat by any means, but he had a lot of bulk.

I was Lia's next target. She rushed at me, but I blocked her overhead swing with one of my shurikens while bringing my other one to my side to block her jab. I was probably better versed to fight her than any of the other ninja, because of my dual weapons, but I was exhausted. She pulled back, and I waited, wanting her to make the next move.

She feinted to the left while countering with an undercut. I fell for it and barely managed to get my weapon up in time to stop her from splitting my jaw in half. Using a terrific display of strength, she wrenched her weapon away, leaving me of balance. Immediately her arm was under me, and I was flipped over onto Jay and Kai, who had just barely untangled themselves.

After what seemed like an impossible time trying to free ourselves (did you know that falling onto others creates a human square knot? It is incredibly hard to untangle), we stood up to see that Liana had backed Cole into the corner, and he was desperately using his scythe to block her attack. Lia had her weapons locked in front of her, one in front of the other, and was pushing down viciously on Cole's scythe. Cole had had to resort to holding it like a staff, hands spread out wide, in order to counter her strength.

We watched in horror as Cole's foot slipped off the roof, knowing we were too far away to help.

**I am really stretching out this scene, not to mention the episode. That's like, seven chapters for one twenty minute show…**

**Oh well. My pole is still open, and I am still open for song suggestions. Before you say it, I have a specific place that I am going to put Let it Go in, so just be patient.**

**Please review! Love ya!**

**~Boogalee**


	29. Chapter 29

**Of Love, Life, and Lies **

**A Ninjago FanFiction**

Chapter 29

Cole's POV

I was falling.

To make matters worse, I had gotten beat up by my girlfriend, and all of my friends were thrown into the corner by said girlfriend, when we were fighting her four on one.

How humiliating.

Lia gave a vicious shove. Her two tessens were locked in front of her, providing extra strength to her blows, and they were pressing down on my scythe. I was barely managing to keep her from chopping my head off.

She pushed even harder. I felt my left foot slide off of the roof. All of my weight, and most of Lia's, was currently resting on my right foot, leaving me completely off balance.

She pushed once more and sent me tumbling off the roof.

I felt a brief sensation of falling, and then…

I landed on Nya's lap.

I heard the air rush out of her lungs as I elbowed her diaphragm. I blushed and hurriedly sat up, not wanting to hurt her any further.

Wait a minute…

What was she doing here?

I finally looked around. She and Sensei had borrowed Kai's dragon and had come to help us apparently. We were currently soaring around the unstable tree house, looking for a way to help the others.

Spotting an opening, I reached out and grabbed Zane's hand, using our turning momentum to spring him up behind me. I heard a grunt. Oops, forgot Nya was behind me. On our next pass, I grabbed Jay and Zane grabbed Kai. Somehow, we managed to spring board them up behind all of us.

Finally, only Lia was left on the trembling roof top, the red eyes that were not hers blazing with hatred. I shuddered and felt my heart ache. There was something out of the ordinary about how she was acting. She was going out of her way to be cruel, when her orders were only to neutralize us.

There was darkness in her, and it scared me.

No one's POV

_The Darkness laughed. That foolish snake had hypnotized the girl, opening the void in her heart even wider._

_The Time for Darkness had arrived._

_It eagerly pushed the girl forward, urging her to destroy her friends._

Jay's POV

I was officially freaking out.

How come I finally get over the fact that Lia isn't evil, and then she suddenly becomes hypnotized?

Guess today was my lucky day. Heavy sarcasm.

Sensei made Flame circle the hideout, trying to figure out what to do about Lia I guess.

To my surprise, and utter disappointment, he pulled out a wooden flute.

"Sensei, I really don't think that this is the time for music-" I hesitated as he lifted the instrument to his lips and began to play an ancient melody.

The falling tree house seemed to sway to the music, and Lia began to rock. The red in her eyes faltered.

The rest of the team and I watched in amazement as the Serpentine's control over her was decimated and our Lia returned to us.

Liana's POV

I felt consciousness returning. I became aware of a magnificent music coming from a beautiful instrument. I was aware of how it was freeing me from my trance.

Slowly, vision returned, and I could make out a red dragon circling the failing structure, and could see the tiny figures on its back, waving me desperately over to them. I carefully flipped over to the edge, but was still too far away to jump comfortably.

Flame came to hover beside me, and I made eye contact with one of its passengers.

"Jump," Cole yelled. "I'll catch you!"

I shook my head, then paused. Where was this hesitation coming from? Three hours ago, I would not have hesitated.

"Come on." He looked me directly in the eye. "Trust me."

Taking a deep breath, I launched myself off the roof.

I didn't open my eyes until I felt strong arms around me.

"Its okay, Lia, I have you. You can stop screaming," I heard Cole mumble into my hair as his hold on my tightened.

I closed my mouth. I hadn't realized that I had been screaming.

There was something wrong with me, and I didn't know what it was.

Zane's POV

The flight back to the monastery was a long on.

Kai was up front talking to his sister, Lia and Cole were snuggling, and Jay looked like he might still be sick. They pretty much left me up to my own thoughts.

And my thoughts were dark.

I could tell that something was up with Lia, and that it had scared both her and Cole, but I didn't know what. I sensed that she didn't know what it was either, and it made me terrified for her.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but in actuality was only 11 minutes and 47 seconds, we returned to the monastery.

Or, what was left of it.

While we were away, the monastery was unguarded. The snakes had taken advantage of that.

There was nothing but ash left. All the memories and security associate with it- gone. Not a trace left.

Cole raced down to free the dragons. Their kennels were on fire, and they were trapped inside. I was glad he had the presence of mind to do that. I know for a fact that I didn't.

I felt numb and hollow inside.

I felt Lia clamber down beside me, and saw her countenance pale to match mine. I knew what we were both thinking.

This had been our only true home, the place that we had known love and friendship and now it was gone.

Kai seemed to freeze for a moment after dismounting, then stormed our way, a murderous glare in his eyes. "You! This is all your guys' fault! If you hadn't followed that stupid bird, none of this would have happened!" he screamed at me and Lia. I felt her cower closer to me, a strange, out of character action.

"Kai!" Sensei reprimanded, but Cole cut him off.

"No, Sensei, he's right!" He rounded on Lia. "Why did you do that? Do you have any idea whatsoever the fear that you gave me? Of course not, since you only focus on helping others, that is, doing what you think is best for others. You never take their feelings into account!"

I stared at Cole. Whether he knew it or not, he was irrevocably in love with Lia, and to say those words… A Darkness must have entered his heart.

I looked over and saw Lia close to tears. "This is a teaching moment," I said desperately. "We must learn from this."

Of course, then Jay decides to storm over. "How?" He gives us a death glare. "You destroyed my high score!" Lia and I both looked at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Enough!" Sensei snapped. He called them over to talk to them, and while Lia and I waited uncomfortably, I saw a shifting black shape out of the corner of my eye. Looking more closely, I saw it was our raven.

I pointed it out to Lia, who nodded.

"Come on, sis," I said. "I think our new friend wants to show us something."

We mounted our dragons and took off after the bird, not knowing and not caring if the others had noticed out absence.

**So, I decided to leave the AN to the end, cause I figured that you would want to get right to the story.**

**Just so you know, I really struggled with this chapter. I feel like there was a major piece of the story just out of my grasp the entire time…**

**Anyways, thanks to ZaneLoverFan88 for her two reviews, ForeverDreamer12, KaitouKiwi, piinkielollipop, 8zBL, Frosti1212, Brightmist and Rosepaw, mykindleisawesome, Nya909, and Bunnyman4 for their reviews. You guys rock!**

**Please don't forget about my poll! And Please review!**

**~Boogalee**


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